Sinnoh Pokémon Adventure
by Mizuharu
Summary: Tangi begins his journey in the Sinnoh Region at a late start. Reason? Lack of motivation. However, that all changes once Cynthia takes the Champion Title. And the fact that his starter seems to be part of something bigger in life might be an influence...
1. Journey

_**Pokémon**___

_**A Sinnoh Region Story**_

**Disclaimer**: I do not claim rights over anything Pokémon, Nintendo, or any other possible video game/movie/etc reference I might make. That being said, however, I do own the imagination that thought this story up. It'll be sad. It'll be funny. It'll be awe striking. And it'll be a blockbuster hit this fall! … Okay, maybe not the last part so much as the rest of it was suppose to be taken serious. . Enjoy and review or I'll take some advice from Hannibal and eat your liver~!

Chapter 1: Journey Starts

'_There goes another one…' _Tangi sat near his window just staring out at the road that leads to outside Sandgem Town. For living in the town of the esteemed Professor Rowan, people here seem to leave a lot. And Tangi was planning on it too. He was sixteen and still hasn't left home to be a trainer. But that all changed quickly; after watching the championship title match that is.

Cynthia, a new, unheard of challenger, swept through the Elite Four as if they were merely the trainers you'd face prior to a gym leader. No, even then they seemed lesser to her. Tangi remembers the live broadcast well, it have only aired not but a month ago. Her grace, her technique, her elegance. And even after the match, she self-treated her Pokémon. His friends would joke about him having a "hard-on" for her, but that wasn't it; far from it. He just loved how she seemed merciless and still human. Like fire with a mind of it's own; a will. Able to decide what lives and what burns…

After that one airing, he began to think of ways to ask the professor for a starter. Small problem… Tangi wasn't quite fond of any of the starter options. Still, where there's a will, there's a way! He was getting a starter today, and it doesn't have to be a Sinnoh one! The professors of Pokémon (Rowan, Oak, Elm and Burch) all decided to try a swap. They'd trade starter Pokémon among themselves and give three lucky trainers a taste of another region. Oak and Rowan were making the swap today and Tangi was asked to come over when Oak arrived so he could help get them ready for their new trainers, unbeknownst to him that Tangi wanted to ask for one himself.

"I don't care which one really, so long as it doesn't try to kill me…" he told himself while shuddering at the memory of when Piplup, Chimchar and Turtwig all basically tried to off him. He told Rowan after he said they were trying to rough house with him, "Being playful is one thing! Those things are sent from Darkrai himself!"

"Tangi, it's Professor Rowan! He said Professor Oak is at the lab and he needs you now!" He snapped out of his flashback after what his mother had said registered in his mind. He grabbed his bag and flung the door open. After taking one step down on the stairs, he jumped the rest like he's always done, grabbed his shoes, and bolted out the door before his mother could start the stairs lecture.

"Wish she would just give up on that," rolling his eyes as he muttered. He ran while slipping on his shoes, gaining speed after they were finally on. About five minutes of speeding through town paid off as he neared the gate leading to the lab. After walking up the path, he went to a window to try to regain his composure. His hair was brown, spiky, and messed up in the front apparently. He brushed it back into place with his hands and decided to give the rest of him a look. His red over shirt was falling off his shoulders, he only had one of his fingerless gloves on, his shorts were drooping cause of his tug-belt, and the straps on his shoes were crocked. '_Damn, I'm pretty self-conscious about my outfit,_' he noted while fixing himself up.

Finally done with the prep, he knocked on the door. … No answer. He tried again, then heard a crash and yelling. Tangi opened the door at full speed. "Is everyone alr-MUMF!" He was meet with something warm, smacking him in the face and knocking him over before jumping off. As the thought of getting up entered his mind, something jumped just below the bridge in his ribcage, then off him the next moment. Having had the wind knocked out of him from the force, he rolled over on his gut, then looked out to the yard to see what got him. There was a Squirtle, running around with a mischievous, bullying look on his face chasing something familiar. There, running away from the turtle was a Charmander, though… "Why is it so brightly colo-OW!" Tangi's face was back into the ground as a third creature jumped onto it. "Lemme guess… Bulbasaur?" he muttered into the wood. He turned his head up to see the green Pokémon trying to hold the blue horror in place with it's vines. "Hate it when I'm right…"

"Enough, all of you," a voice boomed behind him. "Return, now!" Three beams shot from the door hitting all but the Charmander, which yelped in surprise and ran away out the gate that Tangi left open. He pushed himself so he was up on his knees, holding his head with his right hand while his left acted as a support. "I'm so sorry about that! Are you alright son?"

"Y-yeah. Not the first time I took a Pokémon to the face," laughing as he realized what he just said. Tangi stood up and dusted himself off. "But man, why the hell would someone leave them unsupervised like th-" he froze. There Tangi was, suggesting (in question formant) that Professor Oak had just made a mistake.

"Ahahah… Sorry about that!" Oak merely laughed it off, much to Tangi's relief. "Thought they could use some air!" He looked back at the boy, who was just standing there. Gaping at him… Like a zombie of sorts… "Err, well I better get to finding Charmander before he gets too far… Not exactly the best time to run off when he's a good distance away from home…"

This snapping him out of his daze, Tangi shook his head. "I'll go find him sir!" Oak turned to him, having already walked past him down the steps. "Well, I left the gate open. And I opened the door leading outside, so really he got out cause of me." They stood there, Oak staring at him with a kind of deep glare that seemed like he hated Tangi for bringing this thought up, but at the same time not hatful. Finding the silence awkward, he continued, "Um, you don't have to worry, sir. You can ask Rowan about me, I wouldn't harm him…"

"Oh no, it's not that… It's just…" Oak began, then shook his head. "Never mind. Here, you'll need this," handing the Pokéball to Tangi, the proceeded up the stairs again. "Just tell me your name son…"

"Tangi, sir…" then he ran off.

"… Hmph! Boy bad mouths me, then takes charge…" Oak looked back inside. He smiled, then reentered the lab.

Charmander, finally slowing to just a walk, realized he was near some lake he's never seen, and on the verge of tears. '_Why does Squirtle always have to pick on me… Why can't I stand up for myself instead of Bulbasaur or the professor protecting me…_' Though he was staring at the ground as he walked, he was too tired and lost in thought to notice a tree stump root sticking out of the ground slightly, causing him to trip. Looking up from there, tears beginning to roll down from his eyes onto the dirt. '_I-I can't cry… Bulbasaur says I can't cry… But…_' but that was all he felt like he wanted. He turned his head back down into the ground and let out some silent sobs… Wishing nothing more for this to be okay for him to do… For some sort of comfort…

"Damn!" Tangi leaned up against a tree, catching his breath. "Little guy sure runs fast… How far could he have gotten?" He's already looked for half an hour, and the sun was going to set soon. "I gotta find him before sunset… Though I guess maybe night time would be best, what with that glowing tail and all… No, I have to find him now." His determination returning, Tangi began to run again, stopping a few feet away from the tree he stopped at. He heard something… Like a low moaning… "Is that coming from the lake path…?"

Not even a minute of sprinting, Tangi came across the now crying Charmander. Now that he had the dirt-sand pathway to compare him to, the Charmander did seem more yellow then orange… '_Stop that… He might be hurt…_' He shook his head, then walked up to the tree stump and sat down without the little 'mon noticing him.

"Hey there…" trying to sound as peaceful as he could, reaching towards the Charmander. He shot up, obviously spooked, and turned towards Tangi. "Whoa whoa whoa! It's okay! I just wanna see if you're okay!"

"Char?" Charmander cocked his head to the left, recognizing the smell of his Pokéball on the human. He wanted to go home, but not like this; still having tears and now some dirt on him where the tears ran down his face. '_Squirtle would only make fun of me more and I'd get lectured about '_being a big boy_'_' Turning from Tangi, Charmander let slip a few hiccups he was suppressing.

"Were you crying?" Tangi couldn't think of anything else at the moment.

"Char…" he said while nodding.

"Are you hurt?"

"Char…" with a shake of his head.

"So you were crying cause you wanted to?"

Charmander lowered his head, thinking he knew where this was leading to; another lecture. '_Same thing, different human…_' he pouted to himself about remembering all of the previous ones he received from the professor.

'_Hmm, that's it,_' thought Tangi with a smile, setting his backpack down on the ground. "Ya know, it's okay to cry. That is, if ya want to." Charmander's eyes widen a bit, then he turned towards the human. "Sometimes, all anyone really needs is a good cry. It gets out all the feelings in ya you can't handle at once in any other way. It's sad at first cause crying is only ever thought of being related to saddening things, but really… It's a nice way to get everything off your chest at once. Well, one of the ways… One of the safer ways actually…" he mused to himself while looking at the ground, remembering how one of his friends had a terrible day once and just threw chairs at a wall, ending up throwing one too high so it smacked a window. Shaking the memory off his mind, he turned back to the Pokémon. "Anyway, after it's all over, you just smile. And that's all that matters; that you can smile again," he said with a grin.

Charmander stared at him with a shocked gaze, followed by his eyes watering up again and his face scrunching up, then he leaped at Tangi's chest, crying into him. He cried and cried, knowing this one person wouldn't care. Knowing this one person would let him. Knowing this one person must have been through what he has been…

He stared at first, but then Tangi cradled the lizard-mon in his arms and stood up. '_Guess he understood me…_' He stood there just holding him, letting him bawl out to his heart's content. By the time the sun was setting and the stars were coming out, Charmander's tears settled down to just a few hiccups ever now-and-then. Shifting him to one arm, Tangi reached for his backpack.

"Come on boy… Everyone's waiting for you. He wiped Charmander's face off with his over-shirt. When he was done, the Pokémon placed his head on Tangi's shoulder, closing his eyes and resting there as he headed back to the lab…

As they neared the gate, Charmander gained a sudden boost in energy. He climbed up onto Tangi's shoulders and just rested on his head, with Tangi laughing at this. "You sure are hyper when you're not pouting!" This was replied with a swift smack on the head from the yellow critter. They both laughed as Tangi climbed the steps, reaching for the door just as it flew open. There was Professor Oak and Professor Rowan standing there, both giving Tangi "the look"; that one look that you can tell an adult was worried, but then gets angry at the fact that you were fine and well and laughing the night awa- '_Oh… Night time… Riiiiight…_' having just realized the only light they had on the way home was from the moon and Charmander's tail. "Ahahah… Um…" he grabbed Charmander off his head and continued, "I found him! He's fine and well and stuff! Eheheh…" The laughter wasn't helping with shaking off the feeling of fear their gazes caused him. He asked what god would be so cruel as to make him forget to watch the time._ "_Look, I can expl-"

"There's no need to. You both seem unharmed." Rowan's voice seemed to boom every time he spoke, whether he was angry or not, making it hard for Tangi to determine if he really was upset.

"Yes, yes," Oak continued, his voice sounding gentler so Tangi relaxed. "You both are unharmed, that's all we cared about. We both saw how you two were laughing up the pathway here." He smiled, then it left his face as fast as it appeared. Tangi didn't like where this was going. "But, I'm afraid we have to take Charmander back now. He has a trainer, and they're picking him up tomorrow.

Somewhere in it all, Tangi's heart just died a little. "Oh… really? You got trainers already?" They both nodded at him. "I see." He turned Charmander to himself, just staring at the Pokémon, then lowering him to the ground. "Whelp, looks like you get to start traveling tomorrow Charmander!" He smiled at him, but felt his left eye watering up. He wiped it, leaned closer to the 'mon and whispered, "Now it's my turn to cry…" Feeling the paw on his cheek, he had to wipe another tear off his face before standing up again. He handed Oak Charmander's Pokéball to him, bowed to the professors, waved one last time to Charmander, and ran off before the tears returned.

Morning came, but Tangi was in no mood to move. He felt like staying in bed all day, mainly because he blamed himself that Charmander wasn't with him right now. He understood that he had a trainer set to pick him up this morning, but still… '_Maybe I should have ran away with him… I had his Pokéball already…_' Tangi smacked himself for having that thought. That wouldn't make him any better then those thieves out there. Still, he was gone and Tangi had the need to blame himself…

"If you don't come down here this instant and eat, I'm coming up there to recap your knowledge about gravity using your computer!" Tangi tried, but he couldn't repress the laugh that followed. His mother hearing this, she yelled back to him, "Funny, is it?!"

"No mom, I'm coming now!" '_Good old mom…_' he mused to himself.

"And get dressed! We have a guest!"

'_A guest?_' Tangi pondered about it a moment, then shook it off and headed down stairs after grabbing a shirt.

Upon entering the dining room, Tangi saw his mom sitting at the table laughing and nodding at someone across of her. A few more steps down revealed the guest to be Professor Rowan, sipping away at some coffee. '_Ah crap, this has gotta be about how I ran away last night…_' "Good morning Professor, sir. Is there something you needed?"

"Oh, nothing really." He took another sip of coffee. "Professor Oak left for Kanto. I managed to get all the trainers that came to the lab their starters," he said with a smile.

"Ah, I see." '_I don't need a reminder that he's gone…_' Tangi thought of bitterly.

"Yes. You know, I was thrilled when we agreed to swap the starters. This is a good change to further my research. Same with the other professors."

"How so, sir?"

"I have no idea at the time," Rowan chuckled.

"Ah, I see. Well, I gotta get back to-"

"Now just a minute." Tangi let a sigh slip him, then turned towards Rowan again. "You didn't understand me clearly enough, so I'll have to repeat myself." Tangi's curiosity perked a bit. "I said that I managed to give every trainer their starter that came to my lab this morning."

"And you poin-" it hit Tangi. "Someone didn't show up?"

"Exactly."

"Are they okay?"

"Oh, from the looks of it when I checked on them, they are quite fine. He just didn't show up"

"… What the hell is wrong with that fool then?! I hope ya at least nagged him out or something Professor!"

"I'm about to if you keep acting that way," he finished with an eyebrow raised.

Tangi stared for a minute, not sure how to take it. "Wait… I never told you that I wa-"

"No," corrected Rowan. "You never told me directly. Come now, you think I'm old and senile? The constant questions you asked me. The battle practice videos you watched that I had. Why, you went as far as to contact some of my trainers already traveling for some advice!" Tangi felt bad, and upset that his "source" broke his promise about keeping it quiet.

"Sorry sir. There's only one Pokémon I would have started traveling with. And it's 'first come, first serve' in the case of starters so he's probably gone…" Tangi look towards the corner of the room, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Char!" Tangi was smacked in the side by a flying blur of yellow, knocking him onto the stairs. Tangi, turning his head, saw Charmander, latched to his shirt. Tangi's mouth just gapped open as the Charmander gave another excited "Char!"

Tangi turned to Professor Rowan, dumbfounded, making Rowan chuckle. "He absolutely refused to go with any of the trainers that showed up. Almost set my lab on fire trying to roast one of them that was bold enough to pick him up with his back to them."

"Wha… But… But that shouldn't have mattered. Normally you calm them down if they get like that…" Tangi turned to him while trying to keep the lizard under control.

"Ah, but you see I am not the professor they grew to listen to. And that certain person decided to leave before the trainers showed up. Rest assure that all three did get a starter; just one of them had to settle for an Eevee." Rowan smiled a bit. "Besides, you honestly can't trust something as rare as that Charmander to any normal old trainer."

"Huh?" Tangi looked back at him. "Ya mean his yellow skin?"

"Exactly. See, Oak and I have reason to believe that he might be something else. See, trainers call Pokémon with different coloring then normal 'shinnies,' but honestly, from studies, there's something different in their behavior patterns compared to their relatives. So, I thought I should have an assistant that would be willing to travel raise him," he finished, resting his head on his knuckles.

"Me…" Tangi turned from the professor to Charmander, who was just fiddling around with his shirt buttons. He fell backwards onto the steps into a sitting position. '_Me…_' Tangi stared at the floor till Charmander nudged his face. They faced each other, then he licked Tangi on the cheek a few times before Tangi brought him in for a hug. Charmander didn't like being hugged too tightly, so he let an Ember slip out of his mouth onto Tangi's shirt. He panicked, put it out, glared at Charmander, then just started laughing. "You little fire starter!" Tangi shouted, still laughing. "Hey, that's it!" Rowan and Charmander looked at him. "Flint!" Charmander stared blankly at Tangi. "It's a stone that starts fires. So, how about it? Wanna be called Flint?"

Charmander continued to stare blankly, then let out an energetic "Char!"


	2. Opening Attraction!

A/N: So yea, decided to write the second chapter before reviews came in. I actually like where this could go and I do plan on finishing it. To those that have read my other story and wish for an update; I'm sorry. There won't be one. I lost the motivation to finish it long ago due to real life. But life is back to normal (or at least my perspective of what normal is…) and I'm working on this one now! I actually have five chapters written out already on paper. Granted I'm changing them a LOT as I type them cause newer ideas pop into my head. If I like them and can make them fit, I normally add them in. If not, I write them down and keep them in mind for future chapters. Again, some of the chapters are already been written out and I write new ones each day when I can. Updates in chapters for a while can be as fast as now to as long as a week or longer (depending on real life.) Wow, so much for keeping this short… Eheh.

Fun Fact: This chapter wasn't actually written on paper first. I thought that how I had chapter one and two connect sucked so figured I'd make a new chapter two, and make older one into chapter three. Also, I listen to AMV Hell 3 & 4 when writing if my iPod isn't charged. That explains SO MUCH about how my head works… About 5%!

**Disclaimer:** I posted that in chapter one~3!

Chapter 2: Opening Attraction!

"Tangi! Flint! The celebration is starting soon! Rowan needs you at the lab now!" Tangi was finishing with stuffing his bag full of items he thought would be needed while traveling the roads of Sinnoh. Flint, a yellow-tinted Charmander and Tangi's starter Pokémon, was running back and forth fetching stuff Tangi thought he could carry.

"Hey, grab that one book over there! It's got gold lettering on the side of it." Flint ran over, grabbed it, and dragged it back since it was too heavy for the poor 'mon to carry. Tangi heard footsteps coming upstairs, so he doubled his pace in packing as his mother entered the room.

"Tangi," she started in a voice that sounded of a mixture of impatience and worry, "Are you sure you don't need help packing?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm just trying to be helpful here! And why are you packing that book?" She pointed at the book that Flint had just dragged over to the backpack.

"It's informative…" She picked it up before Tangi could grab it and pack it.

"'_The Wonderful Works of Sir Richa-'_ Oh honestly, boy! You don't need a five hundred plus page books in that pack of yours!" She tossed it towards the bed.

"Mom! That's a rare edition!"

"I'm going to make you rare in a second," she stated raising her cooking spoon. Tangi and Flint freaked and grabbed each other. His mother smiled and awed at the two caring so much for each other's safety after knowing each other for just a short time (not caring that she was the one threatening their safety…) "That's so sweet~!" She looked over at Tangi's bag, seeing it stuffed with books. She sighed, grabbed it, and started to walk away, turning back to the two. "You two go ahead to the party. I'm going to go ahead and pack your bag for you. Otherwise, I fear you'll be taking half of your room with you!" She walked down the hall and back down stairs.

Tangi and Flint, still holding each other, let out a sigh of relief. They turned to each other, smiled, then rose from their position on the floor to their feet. "She's right though," he admitted rather flatly. "I would have taken half of my room if I could…" Flint sighed and Tangi just laughed. "Anyway, we are pushing it. We gotta get to the lab in time for Rowan to explain what we gotta do at the party." He leaned down, putting his right arm out to Flint, who jumped up and climbed up it to his shoulders. He grabbed onto Tangi's right shoulder, letting his feet and tail hang down. They nodded at each other and made their way out of the room, down the steps and out the door.

"So glad you decided to grace us with your presence this time Tangi." Professor Rowan, an older but stern looking man stood in a room with three other trainers with him. He seemed a bit irritated with Tangi for walking in late; seeming to him that he was trying to push this bit off.

"Sorry sir." Tangi walked into the room, sat down next to the only girl in the room, and let Flint crawl down to his lap. He looked over and noticed that the girl had blue hair along with a silver tang-top and a skirt that Tangi couldn't exactly guess what color it was. Like a mixture of gray and blue if that was possible. The middle boy wore a green cap, white undershirt with a green, sleeveless vest with multiple pockets across the front, and blue jean shorts. The last one, furthest from him, wore a black t-shirt with a red top shirt, and what looked like kaki and jogger pants with many pockets up and down them. All three trainers stared at him, while all he could manage was an awkward smile back to them. They all looked at the Charmander that, earlier that morning, tried to cook anyone that tried to grab him for their own. Flint, having noticed this, grinned at them all innocently before puffing out a cloud of smoke at them all. They all jumped except the middle boy, who just laughed at the scene before him. Tangi smiled at this, then heard Rowan cough; trying to get everyone's attention back on him.

"Well, seeing as Tangi decided to show up late, we might as well reintroduce each other. If you wouldn't mind starting," he said while nodding to Tangi. He nodded and stood up.

"Um, I'm Tangi." The girl waved a little, the boy in green nodded, and the boy in red just rolled his eyes. "I'm sixteen and I've been helping the professor here for the past year now. This, as you all might have guessed, is my partner." He picked up Flint and held him forward, to which Flint found it prompt to give a wide smile and wave. "His name is Flint and he likes to-"

"To set things on fire?" Tangi looked towards the red-shirted kid. The girl and green-vest boy just giggled a bit. "Yea, knew that bit already when I picked him up. Care to hurry it up?"

"Hmm, well I apologize." He turned Flint towards himself, then continued, "Flint, you didn't know not to do this, so I'll let it slide for now." Flint cocked his head at Tangi wondering what he was talking about. "It's okay. You didn't know not to cook rotten meat like him over there." Flint, the girl and the other boy all started laughing. Even Rowan raised his hand to his mouth, making a chuckle come out as a cough. Red-shirt looked read to lung for his throat right now…

"My turn!" the girl shot up, clueing to Tangi to sit back down. "I'm Rebecca from Twinleaf Town! You all can call my Reb for short though," she finished with a wink. "I'm fourteen and here's my partner!" She tossed her Pokéball into the air, letting out a light that revealed to be a Bulbasaur. "I decided on the name Bruce since he looks like a Bruce!" Flint snickered, causing Tangi to wonder if the Bulbasaur was called something else among their group of friends. Reb sat down, turning back to Tangi and winked, to which he finally noticed that she had silver eyes matching her top.

Next was the green-vested kid. Looking at them with his pale-blue eyes, he started, "Heya, I'm Tank, and I'm sixteen too. Live up in Jubilife City" Tangi thought he looked like a tank. He was the same age as him, but way more muscle. Sure, Tangi wasn't exactly a workout kind of guy, but he still kept in shape. Still, he dwarfed in muscle mass compared to Tank. "My partner is named Eve." He pressed the release button on his Pokéball, causing an Eevee to appear.

'_Not exactly the most original name,_'Tangi thought. Still, it did seem to have an air of it's own in some unoriginal way. '_So that means the other kid got Squirtle. Poor guy…'_

"I'm Hazru. 16. Come from Oreburgh City." Tangi wanted to gag from how dull his introduction was. Reminded him of one of those super nerds that wouldn't waste a minute of chat if it was about something that they could give two shits about. A snapping sound pulled him out of his thoughts, having him look over at the Squirtle. "This is Genbu. Genbu is-"

"A giant turtle from mythology that hails the north compass direction, right?" Tangi couldn't hide his smug smirk on his face, knowing that he just challenged Hazru's knowledge. All he got back was a glare from behind those sunglasses he was wearing. "Sorry, go on."

"That's all that had to be said. I'd much rather get to why we all need to be here for this 'celebration,' seeing as I should be getting my first badge already thanks."

'_Arceus, what a pri-'_ his thoughts interrupted as Flint tried to lunge out of his grasp at the bratty kid. "No, Flint! Bad!" He lunged again, causing Tangi to stand up and walk over to the edge of the room out of jumping reach of Hazru. Rowan raised a brow at this, Reb seemed a bit frightened, and Tank just laughed some more. All Hazru did was give a smug smirk almost equaling the same one Tangi had just thrown him. "You can't just attack him cause I don't like him, okay?" Flint gave him a questioning look, causing him to sigh. "Just cause I don't like something or someone doesn't mean you have to too, okay?" He nodded, then walked back over to the group. As he sat, Flint gave a snarl at Hazru. Tangi was going to lecture him again, but decided against it. '_Ah, whatever. Who can blame someone for not liking that douc-?_'

"Ahem." All four of them turned to Professor Rowan. "Now that we have introduced, or reintroduced in three cases," he hinted while staring at Tangi, causing him to look away to avoid "the look", "I need you all to stay for the celebration for one simple reason; because this is the start of your journey! You might not have many chances to relax on the road, and I'm almost certain that none of you will be traveling together. I also find this a good time for the Pokémon to say goodbye to each other," nodding at the critters each one of them were holding.

"Sounds good to me!" Reb shot up from her chair, knocking it over and Bruce in the process. She freaked out and picked up the Bulbasaur in a haste.

"Do you want to stay Eve?" Tank looked down at his partner, who just nodded with a smile. "Okay, suppose we're staying."

Genbu was dancing around looking happy at the chance of a party, but that thought was pushed away by his trainer. "Sorry, but I'm on a tight schedule here." He sighed, then turned to Hazru with a sad look in his eyes. Hazru just looked down at the turtle pokémon, causing it to turn away again. He pressed the return button on his Pokéball, which gulfed up Genbu. He stood up, locked to ball, placed it on his belt and headed for the door.

"Scared of a crowd?" Tangi's anger was rising. How could he treat his partner; his friend like that?

"What was that?"

"You heard me. What say we provide the entertainment for the evening? A one on one battle if you would." Tangi stood up still holding Flint in his arms. His face was burning.

"I don't have time for this…"

"Then you obviously don't have time for any trainer on the way to the first gym. Wondering how an untrained Pokémon matches up against a gym leader's?"

Hazru stood there. He knew that he'd be fighting every trainer that was stupid enough to challenge him on the pathway to Oreburgh. '_This'll just be early practice I guess…_' "Fine, I accept. But the battle will be the opening event."

Tangi turned to the professor, who gave him a quick nod. "Fine, you're on."

Right as the clock struck six, the lab lawn was brighten up with many lights. There was enough food and beverages to serve a whole town; which was fortunate since the whole town showed up. But no one as at the tables dining. Not quite yet… Everyone gathered around for the new main attraction; a battle between two of Rowan's newest trainers! Tangi took Flint around to one side of the lab, teaching him what he knew about dodging and showing him so clips provided by the good professor. "See that? When they're preparing a special attack like Water Gun, it takes them a while to charge it up. Though this is a higher level water type, meaning it could move and still get the same blast, but Genbu is about the same skill level as you." Tangi was giving as many pointers to Flint as he could. He was scared almost to the point of fainting. '_What if I screw up? What if I give the wrong order? What if Flint freezes up? I wonder how many battles he's actually fought…_' Before he could become any more paranoid, he heard shouting off in the distance. His mother was running over carrying something close to her chest.

"There you are! What is going on?" His mother gave him the usual worried look, granted he was giving the same type of look to Flint the whole time he asked if he understood what he was explaining.

"Nothing really," Tangi said with a grin. "Just a kid and I are going to have a battle is all." His mother stared back strangely. "With our Pokémon mom…"

"I know that," she began while shouting, "Stop thinking I don't understand what you're going through!" Tangi frowned, and she continued. "I know you didn't mean to be rude. I was just over reacting." She took his hand and laid something in it. He looked down and saw he was now holding a CD like case. "It's a TM case. I used it when I was traveling. I left one TM in there that I thought might help you out… Please don't push yourself nor Flint too hard." And as fast as she showed up, she walked away.

"… Thanks, mom." Tangi smiled to himself, then popped open the case. He pulled out the TM inside and read the name of it to himself. His eyes widen, a blank expression on him at first, but slowly changed into a wide grin. "Flint, forget the battle movie for now!" He pressed the eject button on the player and popped in the TM disc. "Watch THIS!" And Tangi let the TM play, knowing that it'd break afterwards; but the after effect it'd have on Flint would be well worth a broke disc.

"Good evening everyone." Professor Rowan walked center stage giving is normal greeting. "Today we've all gathered to witness the birth of four trainers, each showing seemingly endless potential at what careers they may pursue." Everyone in the crowd was cheering and whooping now. Rowan raised his hands, and gestured for them to calm to a silence. When everyone did so, he continued on. "Tonight we planned on just congratulating these children as they walk the path leading to their future, but today is a special treat indeed! Two of my trainers, both of which I hold high hopes in excelling in battles, have agreed to open the ceremony with none other then their first battle!" Louder cheering ensued after the professor's speech. Knowing he would not calm the excited crowd, he simply decided to end his announcement swiftly as possible. Raising his voice, he finished with, "Now this blabbering fool will step down and allow the 'seeds of tomorrow' to begin their battle!" He walked off the stage, with more cheering then before still following. Up came the Nurse Joy for Sandgem Town in his place.

"Thank you all for coming! Tonight's battle features a boy of few words, hailing from Oreburgh City; introducing Hazru!" Hazru walked up the right side of the stage, hands in his pockets and head hung down not giving much attention to the cheers coming from the crowd for him. After he made it to his side, Nurse Joy continued; everyone in the crowd going mute once more. "And to the left, we have none other then our town's own Tangi!" Tangi walked up the steps briskly and turned towards the crowd waving back at them as they all cheered out his name. Nurse Joy signaled for silence and so she received it. "Each side is allowed one Pokémon to use in this battle. No time limit has been set. If one side's Pokémon is unable to continue, or one side forfeits, then the other side shall be declared the winner. If you enter the battle arena without calling Time-Out, this will be taken as a form of forfeit , making it so I have to declare the other side the winner. Are these rules understood?" Both Tangi and Hazru nodded. "Very well. On my signal, you may call out your Pokémon." Nurse Joy stepped off the field, but remained near center mark outside of the arena. "And…" Both boys unlocked their Pokéballs, ready to toss them… "… Begin!"

"Genbu, go!"

"Flint, go!" With a bright flash from both sides, there stood on the field a Squirtle and a Charmander for all of the town to see. Some of them moaned seeing that the lizard was with their fellow townie, automatically judging by type match-ups. "Flint, give him a Leer attack!" Flint's eyes went narrow, glaring at the turtle across of him. Genbu shuddered a bit, but shook it off slightly. "Good, now stand-by in case of an att-"

"Water gun, go!" Genbu cocked his head back, readying to blast the fire-type with his least favorite attack-to-receive.

"Damn. Run around it!" Flint bolted up to Genbu as close as possible before the Water Gun was sent flying at his direction. He jumped to the side and started running in a circle around him, making a trail of water follow him. "Good, now keep that up but don't slip in the water!"

"I don't have time for this. Genbu, turn in the opposite way now!" He did so, smacking Flint on the roundabout dead-on. Tangi cursed for not thinking of that. "Now Tackle Attack!" He lunged at the drenched lizard with as much force as he could. Flint managed to dodge and cause Genbu to slip on his own water on the arena floor and slide off to the other end.

"Close the distance again Flint!" He bolted up towards Genbu as he was recovering. "Now Leer!" Once again he stared at his opponent with a death gaze, causing him to flinch. "Scratch attack!" One swipe and the Squirtle was damage rather heavily.

'_Damn, he's just lowering our defenses…_' Hazru grunted in thought. "Genbu, use Tackle again!" The turtle regain it's balance and launched himself at Flint, smacking him in the head. He grabbed his face, nose now bleeding.

"Hey! What the hell?!" Tangi was shouting towards Hazru.

"It's a legal move, deal with it." Tangi looked over at Nurse Joy. She looked worried, but she nodded to him, confirming it was indeed a legit attack.

'_Wants to play dirty, does he… Fine._' Tangi called out, "Time out!" Nurse Joy nodded, and Tangi ran onto the field. "I'm sorry Flint… I screwed up." He reached into his lower pocket on his shorts and pulled out a potion. He looked up and saw that Hazru was irritated that he remembered meds where he himself forgot. '_That's what ya get when you just wanna rush your Pokémon…_' he grinned to himself. After spraying Flint's nose and wiping off the excess blood, Tangi reported back to his box.

"Due to Tangi using a medicine on his turn, his orders will be skipped this one round and Hazru will be allowed a turn to strike," Nurse Joy stated. Hazru nodded, then issued the command. "Genbu, let's wrap it up. Tackle and Water Gun now!" Genbu lunged at Flint, who managed to dodge the Tackle, but the Water Gun landed full force. He cringed and fell backwards from the force of the blast. Flint started to get back up, as slowly as he was going though Hazru had time to shout another command. "Finish this with Tackle!" Genbu charged in again, withdrawing into his shell after he flung right at the poor Charmander… '_I win._'

"Okay, grab it!" Tangi was allowed to give orders again, and that was the first one he could think of. Flint did as he said, still taking damage but minimized since he had braced for impact in order to obey his trainer. Hazru shouted something, but it was muffled by the crowd's cheering. "Flint, use that move I taught you!" Flint's pupils narrowed at the command; gaping his mouth open with fire building up around his fangs. "Fire Fang!" Flint bite down on the only part left outside Genbu's shell; the tail. His head popped out from surprise and let out a long cry of pain. He twisted around and managed to free himself from the grip of those powerful jaws.

Hazru stared in disbelief… '_How could that newt have learned that move while that inexperienced…_' He looked towards Genbu, who's tail was badly burned. '_Damn, that's going to affect our attacks from now on… I'll have to stick to ranged attacks._' "Genbu, fight from a distance with Water Gun!" He let out a cry with a strong jet of water…

"Ember attack, now!" Flint's mouth popped open letting lose enough Ember to meet the Water Gun with a deadlock. The crowd waited for the steam that enveloped the field to clear before they made any reaction. Both sides were standing, huffing in and out through their mouths as they breathed. The crowd was awestruck that those two, tiny little things could still manage to stand. '_Damn, this HAS to end soon… I don't think Flint has enough in him to deadlock another attack._' Hazru, having the same thoughts, was staring at Tangi, hoping for some clue as to what was going to be his next action. Suddenly, both Pokémon started to glow. Tangi and Hazru both shouted in sync, "What the…?!"

"Professor!" Nurse Joy turned to behind her for some advice from Rowan. "What do you make of this sir?"

Professor Rowan walked up stage and took witness at what was happening. "Hmm, I believe they're tapping into their native abilities…"

"You mean…?" Nurse Joy's mouth dropped ever so slightly at the answer she received.

"Hm. Ladies and Gentlemen, right now you are witnessing both Charmander and Squirtle's latent abilities; Blaze and Torrent. Each one powering up their respective type moves…"

Tangi looked over from the professor, to Nurse Joy, then back at Flint. He finally noticed that Flint's pupils had narrowed. '_What… Has he been like that this whole fight…? No, definitely not. His eyes were normal when I used the potion._' Terror filled Tangi. '_Why does he look like he's ready to kill something?_' "Uh, Flint?" Tangi thought maybe he could get him to respond. No luck. He inhaled as much as he could and shouted, "Flint!" The fire typed turned an eye towards his trainer, still with that death-gaze across his face. Tangi flinched… "Flint… Ar-Are you okay?" Flint continued to stare at him… Tangi was beyond frightened now; willing to throw the match if it meant his friend would revert back to normal. Just as the thought entered his mind, he saw a wink come from him. At least it looked like a wink since only one eye was on the side facing Tangi. Then he saw a smirk across his face. '_Okay, maybe it's normal. I'll have to talk to Rowan when I can and ask about this._' He nodded to himself, then refocused on the match.

While the crowd was yelling out of excitement, Hazru took notice in Flint's strange behavior. '_That is NOT normal for a Charmander… Charmeleons and Charizards, yea, but not a Charmander._' The fear that Tangi had not a moment ago was now placed inside him. '_End this now. RIGHT NOW._' That was the only thought tracing his mind. "Hate to do this to you Tangi, but I'm afraid I'm out of time."

"Huh? You're quitting?"

Hazru chuckled. "No, I'm finishing this. Genbu!" Genbu turned towards him. "End it…" He nodded and turned towards his old Charmander friend. He opened his mouth like he was readying a Water Gun, but the water stayed at his mouth. It just started to enlarge. And become bigger… And bigger…

"How can this be?!" Professor Rowan's face started to become pale. Nurse Joy was joining him herself. Tangi looked over, hoping for some kind of hint as to what was happening. "That Squirtle… How does it know Hydro Cannon…?!"

Tangi's eyes shout open. '_Hydro Cannon… That's suppose to be a water-type Pokémon's equivalent to Hyper Beam…_' Fear returning, he turned towards Flint. "Flint, get outta there! Now!" Flint stood his ground, not even flinching at the water that was still building. "Flint, NOW!" Then, Flint lifted his head upwards, having his mouth aimed at a forty-five degree angle towards to sky. Fire started to build there, looking like he was countering with an Ember. "Flint, what are you do-" then Tangi froze again. The flame ball stayed there. It grew to the same size as Genbu's Hydro Cannon water-ball. '_What… The… Hell…'_ He shouted towards Rowan, "Is that a Bl-"

"Yes…! That's a Blast Burn…" Rowan's mouth dropped slightly. He couldn't imagine now these two, children-like Pokémon already have tapped into such destructive power. As he tried to come with possibilities, the thought of what the damage those attacks could cause when they meet crossed his mind. As he was about to shout his warnings to the crowd, the two battlers let their attacks loose.

Flint, even though having started charging it after his foe, was the first to fire. The ball of flames flew towards his opponent, engulfing him as Genbu's Hydro Cannon was released, hitting Flint with full force. He stood his ground for as long as he could before being swept away with the water. As Flint lost his footing, the ball of flames spread out around the Squirtle. It started as one ring of fire columns. Then two. Then finally three were circling around him. Hazru was unable to see his 'mon in the flames. Suddenly, they just died down; as if sucked into the ground. Genbu lowered his guard, but it was too soon. A final column shot up right where he stood, swallowing him completely. After it disappeared again and the water around Flint dispersed, both Pokémon tried to stay on all fours as long as they could.

Tangi and Hazru just stood there, not sure what to do. Should they run out to nurse their Pokémon though it would mean losing the match, or stand there and wait for the first to fall…

"… DAMN IT!!" Tangi was the first to enter the field; not caring anymore of the match. He wanted to be sure his friend was alive. As Nurse Joy declared Hazru the winner, Tangi snatched up Flint and shook him slightly. "Flint, FLINT! Come on, boy. Say something! Please!" He saw the Charmander's eyes squint as they were closed, realizing that he could hear Tangi. "Flint! Please say someth-"

"CHAAAAAAR!!!!!" Tangi's face was meet with a mouth full of Charmander's teeth, sinking into his flesh.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. OW!!!! GET OFF!!!" Tangi tried to pry him off with a few failed attempted, finally succeeding on the fifth tug. Flint opened his eyes; his pupils having reverted back to normal, and smiled playfully at Tangi. "You… Asshole!" Tangi couldn't think of anything else to say to him… Flint looked shocked and hurt by his words. "Don't EVER scare me like that again!" Tangi brought him in for a hug, showing just how scared for Flint he was. Flint blinked a few times, then returned the hug…

Footnotes: OH NOES STARTERS WITH ELEMENTAL HYPER BEAMS?! HAX0RZ!!! But seriously, your Pokémon CAN learn them as Egg moves. And that's going to be mentioned next chapter. Just not now. I'm tired and this reads eight pages according to my word pad… And I'm STILL not done with bridging the connection I had for original chapter 1 to chapter 2. Ahahah… Yea… Whelp, hope you like! Read and review~!


	3. The First Hurtle

Disclaimer: It's in chapter one. I don't think I have to repost it every chapter. That being said, I don't think I have to even post this part. Then again, plenty of lawsuits out there for stupid reasons…

A/N & Summary: Wow guys, I'm sorry… I'm making this supposed bridge longer then I first thought it would be. I just planned to make the whole fight and aftermath one chapter, but then I realized how long it was getting. This one will just finish up with Tangi's night, him leaving home in the morning. Though the previous chapter was improvised, I still like how it turned out. I did notice all the mini grammar mistakes that I missed. God, I swear to you all I check the story a good five to ten times. I'm just made of suckage. -.- Fun fact; I actually don't have a sixth member on my Pokémon roaster. Saving it for a Lugia, providing I ever get one. They're so sweet… But Charizard's the greatest 'Mon to me! If anyone has a suggestion on what I should have as a sixth, I think I'll end up adding it to the story. Also note that the part that's in ~ ~ is to be considered a flashback.

Chapter 3: The First Hurtle

"What's taking so long…?" Tangi, a sixteen, brown haired, punk looking boy muttered while sitting outside the ER in Sandgem Town's PokéCenter. His amber-colored eyes drifting back and forth from the clock and the double doors that Nurse Joy was currently behind with Flint, his yellow-gold skin-toned Charmander. It was about an hour after his match with Hazru and Genbu, the Squirtle that Professor Oak left to Professor Rowan to give to a trainer. The party was still going on, but Tangi felt he had to be here in case there was a problem.

~ "Don't EVER scare me like that again!" Tangi brought Flint in for a hug, hoping to show how scared for him he was. Flint blinked a few times, and then returned the hug. They stayed in this position even as Hazru walked over. He stood above the two with a scared but smug smirk on his face.

"Close one, wasn't it?" He looked down at Tangi and Flint as Genbu walked over to his trainer. Though he didn't say it, Hazru was enjoying the fact he made the brat lose in front of everyone from his home town. "Bet you're finding it a real shame you didn't wait though. Might have won-"

BAM! Tangi shot up and socked Hazru right on the left side of his chin, causing most of the crowd to gasp. "Actually, no. Though I bet you feel it's a shame now. Could have been you throwing the punch if we were in different positions." Hazru swung back, but Rowan had grabbed his fist before it landed.

"That's enough!" He shifted his glare back between the boys. "The match is over and the results have been declared," looking at Tangi as he said this, making him feel disgusted at Rowan for thinking he started the fight. Shifting his gaze to Hazru, Rowan continued, "And nothing should be said after the match that would prompt your opponent to slug you!" After a bit, both boys nodded, still staring at each other with eyes of hatred.

Plop. The three humans blinked at each other, then looked towards the ground. Flint had finally fainted from exhaustion. Tangi, panicking, scooped him up and ran him over to Nurse Joy. As they walked off stage, some of the people near the edge of the battle area patted Tangi on the shoulder, some out of comfort for losing the match, others were praising him for the right hook he just threw.~

The doors pushed open, Nurse Joy walking out as she passed a medical chart to her Chansey. Tangi shot up from his sitting place and bolted right for the nurse. "Is he okay?"

"Just exhausted. Blast Burn tends to eat a lot of energy. Same could be said for trying to hold his ground against a Hydro Cannon right after his attack." Nurse Joy sighed, looked back at Tangi and could tell from the look on his face that this information wasn't detailed enough for calm him. "All he needs is a night's rest and a nice breakfast in the morning," she finished with a smile.

"I see… I better give the professor and my mother a call then." He tried to make his way to the phones, but was stopped by Joy.

"Why?"

He turned around, facing her. "Well, I need to ask Rowan about what just happened and I need to tell my mom I won't be able to come home tonight and-"

"Why aren't you going home?"

He blinked. "Um, cause Flint is staying here? If he ain't coming home, then I ain't going home!" Nurse Joy giggled. "What?"

"He's still awake," she said pointing at the ER behind her. "And I just cleared him. Did you want to go take him-" Tangi sped past her calling his friend's name. "-home." She giggled again; making her way back to the front desk.

Tangi poked his head around the corner, seeing Flint sitting in bed staring at his feet. He was about to call his name again when he noticed it; Flint's pupils were narrow again. Remembering how he acted during their match, Tangi felt the same panic reenter his body. He walked out from behind the wall, Flint either not noticing or not caring about this fact. Tangi, deciding to walk over to the bed, walked as slowly as he could. When he finally reached it there was still no change in Flint's behavior. "Flint…?" Tangi reached out towards the Pokémon making contact on top of his head. Flint trembled slightly, making Tangi jerk his hand back.

"Char?" He turned to his trainer, eyes wide and back to their normal Charmander state.

"Uh… how ya feeling boy?" Flint smiled with his widest grin he could manage. "Heh. Well, Nurse Joy said you could come home. Ya ready?" he nodded and jumped up to standing on the bed, then only Tangi. After letting him climb into position, Tangi walked out of the ER and passed Nurse Joy on the way to the front doors. They nodded to each other and waved goodbye.

Back outside, Tangi looked up towards Rowan's lab. It was almost ten at night and, just as Tangi hopped, the place looked empty of towns people. "Sorry Flint…" Flint looked over at Tangi's face. "I have to go back to the professor's place." His face was nudged by the lizard Pokémon on his shoulder. Tangi didn't really pay mind too it. He was thinking too much about how to talk to Rowan about his 'Mon's behavior.

"Yes, it's good to see Flint unharmed." Tangi was sitting down in Rowan's lab holding a coffee cup of tea that the professor just poured him. Flint was off sniffing around the laboratory, and Rowan had just heard the story of how things went at the PokéCenter. "Both of those critters nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Yea, about that. I thought they could only learn those moves when they were fully evolved." Tangi was pondering about that the whole hour he was waiting for the news from Nurse Joy. "Also, how did Hazru know that Genbu knew it?"

Professor Rowan took a sip of his drink, placing it down on the table between them. "Well, I do know that when Pokémon lay eggs, the infants tend to learn their attacks from their parents even before being trained. One move is a common one that all members of their species know since hatching. The second tends to be one that the infant can learn while growing, or 'leveling'. Third tends to be a move from the father. We've noticed these moves to be ones that Trainers either taught their Pokémon with TMs/HMs or moves that could be taught with a TM. And lastly is any move that the father knew." He took another sip as Tangi just nodded to himself everything he just heard.

"So you think Flint's dad knew Blast Burn? Wait, doesn't Professor Oak normally catch his starters in the wild?"

Rowan nodded. "As do I. But sometimes trainers send us Eggs that we hatch. I spoke to him while you were at the 'Center by the way." Tangi looked up towards Rowan. "He did in fact hatch all of the starters he brought over for me to use. So it's possible even for Rebecca's Bulbasaur to know Frenzy Plant."

'_Oh great…_' thought Tangi as he rolled his eyes. "But… How did Hazru know Genbu knew Hydro Cannon?"

"Ah." The professor stood up and walked over to his computer. He grabbed something and handed it to Tangi. It was a black PokéDex. "I passed those out when everyone showed up before. Sorry for forgetting yours."

"Okay… But this doesn't ans-"

"Yes, it does. There's a new feature on these that lets you 'scan' Pokémon for what attacks they know. Granted they're only programmed to work on just ones you capture."

"Ah, that would explain it…" Tangi popped open his 'Dex and used the new function. He aimed it over at Flint and got the info he needed…

Flint/CHARMANDER

Ember - Scratch - Leer - Fire Fang - Blast Burn

"Hey, it works! Sweet…" Tangi wanted to fool around with the 'Dex some more, but that could wait. Though an idea just struck him. "Does this list behavioral patterns in Pokémon?"

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but only to a certain extent. Is there something particular that you wanted to know?" Tangi thought to himself, then looked at the professor and told him what he witnessed during the match and in the PokéCenter, causing his eyes to widen. He shot a look over a Flint, who was lying down on the couch there a few feet away from him. "No Tangi, that is not normal. It's been seen in some cases for Charmeleon and Charizards. Their pupils would dilate till it seemed as if they only had a black slit for pupils, but it shouldn't be possible for a Charmander to do that… And even as one of his evolved forms, it's only bee noted a few times."

"Why do they do it though?"

He was still staring towards Flint, then turned to Tangi. "You said he responded to your calls still?" Tangi blinked.

"Well, to a certain point. In the match I called his name twice and got him to look at me. He obeyed every command up to the one where I said to run from Hydro Cannon. Then in the ER, he didn't answer his name till I touched his forehead." He grabbed his drink and started to take a sip when Rowan spoke up.

"… Tangi, I want you to put off traveling for a bit more." Tangi spat the tea he had in his mouth back into the cup and was about to complain when the professor spoke up again. "Tangi, Flint might some sort of genetic mutation. If he's truly acting like you said he did, it could mean trouble." He looked towards the boy who still seemed ready to protest. "He could hurt someone or himself if his unresponsive behavior becomes worse."

'_Damn it…_' He knew he couldn't argue with this. But still… He looked over at Flint, who turned from his curled up position onto his back. "… Alright sir, I'll put it off."

Rowan let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now, both of you go home and get some rest. If you need some time before coming over again, I'll understand. Though we do need to run test on Flint and-"

"No." He turned. Tangi stared right at Rowan. "No, we're not doing any test on him."

"Tangi, please… They won't harm him in any way."

"… What if I just observed him for a while, then tell you next time I meet with you about what I saw?" Rowan paused and grabbed his beard, tugging on it as he thought. "It couldn't hurt to let him act normal for a while first. Then I can ask him if he'd want to do the test."

"… Very well, I will let you do that." They both nodded to each other, then Tangi grabbed Flint from the couch and cradled him as he walked to the door. "Now just remember; you'll have to put the traveling off for a little bit."

"Understood sir." He nodded then walked off towards the gate. '_"… _for a little bit,_"_' Tangi smirked. '_Seeing as I wanted to leave tonight, tomorrow morning should be "_little bit_" enough.' _

Tangi walked up the porch steps of his home and unlocked the door, pushing it open. He looked around the front room seeing that it was all clear. He was glad his mother wasn't still up waiting for him. He walked past the kitchen way towards the dinning room, freezing in his tracks as he noticed his mother there. She was fast asleep at the table next to a sewing machine. He stared, smiled to himself, then headed upstairs. He placed Flint in bed then went and grabbed a cover for his mother. Sneaking back down the steps, he placed it over her and looked at the table. There, right between her and the machine, was some shirts and a pair of shorts that Tangi's though looked new. He picked them up and walked up to the bathroom upstairs.

He stripped to his boxers and tried on his outfit his mother apparently had been working on. The shorts were slightly longer on the legs then his other pair, but they were much roomier. He figured he'd need a belt to hold them up and realized his mother must have made them that way since he had to wear one anyway to hold his Pokéballs. The undershirt was loose, but not so loose as if it looked like it was a few sizes too big. It was just a plain gray, comfortable shirt. His over shit was an orange-brown mixture with black along the front sides and back.

Tangi looked himself over in the mirror and liked the outfit a lot. '_I really wish I could thank her properly… But I have to wake up early to avoid the professor._' He decided to go ahead and sleep in his new outfit, giving him one last thing to worry about in the morning…

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BE-smack!_ Tangi rolled over and stared at the clock. '_Five past five. Good._' He rolled out of bed, found his backpack and went to his closet to grab a belt to use. There wasn't one in there, so he thought his mother might have packed it. He opened the pack and was surprised how everything his mother put in there had fit so well. _'Damn, at least wanted to take one book…_' he looked around and grabbed his "Mythologies and Legends of the World", stuffed it in the spot he pulled the belt out from, and zipped the bag close again. When he was finally ready, he shook Flint awake, grabbed him, and they both headed downstairs. Tangi looked over at the dining table and his mother was gone. Curious at first, he just decided that she had woken up during the night and moved to her bedroom. He smiled and pushed the door open going to the kitchen. He ransacked what he could fit and put the food in the pockets of his bag his mother left empty to serve just that purpose. "Better leave her something since I'm taking a lotta food," he thought out loud as he handed Flint some pieces of leftover bacon. Pulling out half of his savings (about 8000 P) he laid it on the counter with a note about him leaving. "Okay, you done?" Flint nodded, jumped and climbed up to Tangi's shoulder. "Let's be of- WHACK!"

"Oh, leaving already dear?" Tangi, knocked down by the door that just smacked him in the face, looked up and saw his mother carrying groceries. "Aww, I was hoping you would look good in that outfit! I had to guess on the shirt measurements since I lost the paper with them written down." She walked pasted him placing the food on the counter.

"Wh-wh-wh-wh" was all Tangi could manage to get out of his stammering mouth.

"What am I doing up so early? Oh, I was just getting things to stock up on since I figured you'd raid the fridge and cabinets for food." All Tangi could think of was how predictable he must really be. "And what is this for exactly?" She raised the money he had left there.

"Well, I didn't just wanna take food and leave you without anything to replace it with…"

"Oh nonsense! Just take this back," she said while handing him the 8000 P back, "And get a move on it!" She winked at him, then turned away to unload. Tangi stared for a moment, Flint being about as dazed as he was.

"Uh, o-okay. Oh, mom. If the professor comes asking for me or calling me I'-"

"I already talked to him on my way home from the mart." He stopped, waiting on what would come next. She sighed and turned to him. "Are you certain you should be going?"

He looked down at the ground trying his best to avoid eye contact. Flint nudged his face after a while which finally cleared Tangi's thoughts well enough to answer. "No, I'm not sure. But I have to. It just feels like I have to." He looked up, trying to give his most honest face to his mother. She started at him momentarily, then smiled back.

"Then get going." They both nodded, and then bolted out the door. She walked over to it and watched as they disappeared into the morning fog coming from the beach, heading for the road leading to Route 202. Soon they'd be in Jubilife City.

"Where… Am I?" All it could see were bright lights overhead and three voices shouting. It didn't know what was happening, and it didn't care. Right now, all it wanted was sleep…

Footnote(s): Chapter three complete! Review if ya want! The last paragraph isn't meant for this chapter so much as it's meant for the next one; when Tangi get's his second Pokémon! Could it possibly be the "it" that was talking? Wait; a talking Pokémon? There's no talking Pokémon in Platinum! There I go again; throwing something not so original into a story that wasn't that original in the first place! Naughty old me!


	4. Second Chance

Disclaimer: We've been over this. See Chapter One.

A/N: Wewt chapter four! Sorry for putting it off! I bought Dissidia Final Fantasy. Hur /drool~. Oh, and more flashbacks this time so text is in ~ ~s again. Though there's going to be a flashback IN a flashback so yea… Main one will be ~ ~s and the second one will just be in - -s.

Chapter 4: Second Chance

A few Starly flew above Tangi and Flint as they walked the twisted path of Route 202. Tangi was worried when they came across their first trainer, but Flint's eyes stayed the same the whole time and they won with little difficulty. '_Maybe it passed… No, Professor Rowan said it could be genetic… But what triggers it?_' As they walked and Tangi pondered on this, Flint tugged on his shorts. He looked down at the fire-type. "What is it boy?" Then Tangi heard the stream ahead and chuckled a bit. "Okay, climb on up." He did so then nudged his face playfully making Tangi laugh. Smiling together, then finished walking the last stretch of the road, coming just south of Jubilife City.

In a darken room, it stirred. It opened its eyes and began to take in the environment around it. It closed its eyes again to try to sense around it only to find its inner vision was blurred. "What's wrong with me…?" The door clicked open, causing it to turn its head to the light coming from the outside of the room. A young girl walked in, startled to see the Pokémon awake. It tried to rise up from its bed, but she ran over to it.

"No no no! Sorry, but you need to rest some more!" She pushed it back down into a laying position as gentle as she could while still appearing stern.

"Hmm, sorry," he replied in a deep but gentle male voice. "Exactly where am I?"

"The Pokémon Center… I found you in an alley way in town."

He closed his eyes, seeming to try to remember the events that took place before the girl had supposedly found him. He remembered an alley, but nothing before that. "I see…" '_What was I doing there?_' "Oh, sorry," he said realizing he spaced out on her.

She shook her head. "Don't be. You just go back to sleep and you should be fine." He nodded and closed his eyes. She walked away towards the door and closed it just slightly. She stared back at the bed, nodded, and whispered, "Good night, Lucario." With that, the door was shut.

"Charmander…"

"You said it Flint…" Despite the fact that Tangi had been to Jubilife many times in his life, it still shocked him how big the city seemed to have grown each time he visits. While he was gawking away at the view, Flint decided to jump over from hanging on his right shoulder to standing on both of them almost causing Tangi to lose balance. Gaining his posture he smiled. "Comfortable?"

Flint grinned and patted him on the head. "Charmander char!"

"Ahahah! And to think only a few days back you were a crybaby!" Flint bit down onto the crown of Tangi's head. "Ow! Ow! OW! I'm sorry, okay?! Cut that out!" He pried the lizard off his head with a sigh. "Man, you better not have rabies or something… Oh, almost forgot!" He placed him on the ground and pulled out his PokéDex. "I still gotta register for the Sinnoh League!" Tangi looked up and spotted just the sign he wanted to find; the one pointing towards the PokéCenter. "Okay, you've gotta go into the ball for a bit Flint." He pulled if off his belt, pressed the return button then replaced it as he broke into a run for the center.

Lucario tossed in his sleep, dreaming of familiar terrains. He was looking for someone… someone dear to him. He finally located him in a town, a trainer; his trainer.

~"Sir, I've returned." The boy's face looked shocked at the fact the Lucario before him was speaking proper English.

"What?"

"I finished training like you wanted, sir." Lucario was kneeling to his trainer. He was with this trainer for a short time after hatching into a Riolu, due mainly because of his inexperience with Aura causing his master to become upset with him daily. But one day, the trainer came to him with an offer.

-"Tell you what Riolu," he started. "You stay here on this mountain to train. They say solitude is key to making one stronger. Once you learn to control your Aura powers, use them to find me. After that, we can travel again. Sound good?" He grinned when Riolu nodded. "Then it's settled! Best of luck!" With that, he departed.

A month passed. During that time, Riolu forced evolved himself when he nearly died from falling down a ledge. As a Lucario, he found it much easier to control his powers. He also had met a hiker that enjoyed to spar his Pokémon against this stray fighter; somehow picking up English from him and getting a basic grasp of it. Excited, he began his search for his master at once while practicing his speech. This proved helpful since most trainers would try to capture him since he was nowhere near the native grounds where Lucarios live.-

The silence made him feel uneasy, so he chose to continue. "Sir? You will keep your promise, won-"

"Oh, you're that Riolu I ditched." Lucario's eyes widened; the human laughing now. "Wow, I can't believe you evolved much less learned to talk! Amazing! But too bad I replaced the sorry excuse of a spot I had for you the second I got off that rock! Care to meet him?" He tossed a Pokéball into the air, causing it to release the 'mon inside; an Aggron. With a grin similar to the one he gave Lucario on the mountain, he shouted his orders. "Aggron, Metal Claw!" Lucario had enough time to block the first one, but the second made a clean hit; knocking him into the air. "Now, Hyper Beam!"~

And with that, Lucario woke.

"Thank you for waiting! Your Charmander is perfectly fine, and here's your PokéDex back. You've been successfully registered for the Sinnoh League. Though, if you don't mind me asking, why didn't Professor Rowan do this for you?"

"Uh…" '_Oh shit…_' Tangi said the only excuse he could think of at the time, "I was in such a rush to get to the first gym I just thought he did that already. Then I got a phone call…"

Nurse Joy giggled. "Oh, I see. Most trainers do that a lot. Oh, before I forget." She started to rummage under her desk, pulling out a rectangular case. "This is your badge case. You can either make your way and fight in a tournament to face the Elite Four, or, after collecting all eight badges, you can challenge them directly."

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" He smiled and turned from the counter, tossing his Pokéball into the air. "C'mon out Flint!"A flash of light later, Flint was running around Tangi's feet before he grabbed the eager lizard. "Flint, this is another PokéCenter. You didn't get a proper explanation last time we were at one, but here is where all the sick Pokémon come or people that want to lodge here when no hotels are in the area." Leaning in closer he whispered, "Or if you're cheap like I am and wanna stay somewhere for dirt-nothing." Flint laughed then squirmed his way out of Tangi's grasp. He landed with a bump then started to sniff around the room, but never went too far from his trainer.

"Oh! Tangi! Hiya!" Everyone turned towards the voice only to see Rebecca standing there in her blue shirt and ugly blue-silver skirt. Tangi groaned to himself as she walked forward. "Geez, try not to sound too happy to see me." She giggled and turned to Flint. "Hiya Flint!" She reached out to him. He was scared that his 'mon would try to roast her like he tried to when anyone went to pick him as his partner back at the lab, but he just laughed as she bounced him.

"Huh. I thought a replay of what occurred at the lab was going to happen," he confessed.

"Oh no, he was nice to me but I liked Bruce more."

"Hmm…" Tangi looked over at Flint. With a smirk showing on his face, he waved his hand towards him and said, "Got a thing for girls do ya? You little per-" his sentence cut off with a quick chomp from Flint around his right hand he was waving. Panicking, Tangi started to frail around trying to shake off the death grip his 'friend' had on him.

"Ahahah! You two are so hilarious, ya know?" Reb was laughing away at the scene while Nurse Joy was wondering if she should be laughing or helping Tangi. He finally freed his hand (due mainly to Flint becoming dizzy from being shaken so much.)

"Man, I'm going to have scars everywhere before we get our first badge," he moaned while wearing a pouting face. Tangi then turned to Reb, having her being here finally register. "Say, what're ya doing here anyway?"

"Oh, that's right!" She turned to Nurse Joy and continued. "I just checked on him. He was awake, but I got him to lay back down again." Nurse Joy nodded. Tangi felt left out of something that seemed to be major.

"Who? Bruce?"

"No! I'd never get my Brucie hurt!" she shouted in an offended tone.

"… Brucie?" She nodded at the two and both Tangi and Flint started to laugh hard, causing tears to form at their eyes.

"Hey, shut up!" She walked over to them since they didn't stop and she smacked Tangi promptly. Flint laughed harder; falling out of his trainer's arms and onto the ground, banging one of his paws on the ground while Tangi's laughter stopped. Reb had such a serious face on, but she ruined the moment. "It's not his fault he looks like a Bruce!" Flint stopped laughing only to resume even harder with Tangi laughing just as hard. She sighed. "I give up…"

"A-an-anyway," Tangi stuttered, "If you're not here cause of 'Brucie', then who's this he you were talking about?"

Rebecca looked to the phone booths trying her best to avoid answering the question. He was about to say something when a loud crash came from upstairs. "I'll go look!" She turned and bolted up the stairs.

Tangi turned towards Nurse Joy. "What was that about?"

"Well, you see…" she began only to be cut off by a scream from upstairs.

Tangi and Flint were the first up the steps. When he reached the top, Tangi saw Rebecca on the floor unconscious behind a Chansey that was holding a door shut. Nurse Joy made it up after them, gasped, and then ran towards her to check for injuries. She turned to Tangi. "She's bleeding, but no visible head injury." The nurse checked the rest of her and found glass sticking inside of her left thigh. Tangi cringed and looked towards the door after a bang came from the other side.

"Nurse Joy, what's in there? What Pokémon?"

"It's a Lucario." Tangi turned towards her. "This girl found it in an alleyway last night and brought him to me…"

"But," there was one thing bothering him. "But why did it snap?"

"… When it was brought in, it was mumbling something about what happ-"

"Wait, it talks?"

"Yes. But, from what I could tell, it was abused. Her story supports this too… Maybe he remembered what happened." Tangi felt disgusted.

'_Well, I can't be mad at it for snapping… But still_' he thought as he turned back towards Reb. '_She didn't do anything to deserve being attacked._' He looked at Flint and jumped as the 'mon's pupils were narrowed again into his "berserk" mode staring right onto the door. "Flint." He turned towards his trainer, not dropping his gaze. "Flint…" '_What should I do…? The professor said he could hurt people or himself._' Tangi sighed. "Flint, I just want you to know one thing." He kneeled down, looking straight into those eyes that seemed to pierce anything he looked at. "… I'm not sure what's going on with you. And I'm scared." Flint raised a brow. "But… But I trust you. So…" Tangi wasn't sure where he was going with this. "So please don't be reckless." A moment of silence passed then Flint finally nodded. Tangi let a sigh of relief leave him. "Okay, let's do this!" Tangi nudged the Chansey to make her move then kicked the door open.

"Ember, now!" Flint let loose a barrage of flames that landed their mark on the Lucario, causing him to be knocked back to a window. He glared towards the two challengers and launched an Aura Sphere in their direction. "Dodge!" They both leaped to either side of the door they entered through. "Ram him!" Flint charged towards the target and succeeded into knocking it and himself out the window. Tangi ran towards the window and climbed out onto the little roof that was available to stand on. Both Flint and the Lucario were on the ground in their fighting stances, stepping around in a circle; waiting for some clue for what the other one was about to do.

The Lucario suddenly lunged at Flint. "Get back!" It shouted while having an Aura Sphere ready in his hand, trying to smack it into the Charmander. He dodged but was met with a second one from the other hand.

'_Wow, he really does talk… And he's pretty strong… Maybe- No._' Tangi had let the thought of capturing him for his roaster cross his mind, but emptied his mind of the thought as fast as it entered. '_Only if we can't restrain him will I toss a ball._' "Flint, get close and try to land a Fire Fang!" Flint landed on his feet and launched himself towards his opponent faster than Tangi's ever seen him move. Fire built around his fangs as he opened his mouth to bite down, but Lucario was faster and managed to dodge. "Damn… Eh?" Tangi thought it missed, and he was right. Flint missed but suddenly repeated leaping at him trying to clamp down; finally succeeding on the fourth try. '_He must of thought of doing that…_' "Okay, now hold down on him!" He did so and let Ember fly from his mouth as he stayed attached to the wolf-man Pokémon. Lucario, cringing at the fire, ran towards the building and tried to kick the wall with Flint being between the wall and his foot. Flint was pressed against the building causing him to release his grip on his prey. The second he hit the ground though he jumped backwards from the Lucario; both looking worn out.

"Why… Do you fight me?" Lucario looked towards the human on the roof. "Is it because of him…? He tells you to do so?" He looked back at Flint. His eyes interested him greatly. They looked like the eyes of a fighter; someone that's seen the battlefield thousands of times before. "Hmph," Lucario grunted with a grin appearing. "And what do you think will happen when you lose? Don't you think he'd abandon you?"

"… I've already lost once and that was from not listening." Flint said in his native tongue; Lucario instantly understanding it. His eyes widened a bit at this sentence. "Is that what happened to you? You lost and your old human became 'bored'?"

Tangi kept his eyes focus on the two on the ground. He heard Flint growl but it looked like he was talking with Lucario. '_Well, it's not a berserk mode if he's still able to listen and chat apparently… What is it th- No. Wait. I have to focus on possible openings._'

"Silence!" Lucario leapt at the yellow lizard and kicked him into a tree.

"Flint!" Tangi jumped down off the roof, stumbling on his landing. He bolted over to the tree and picked him up. "Flint, you okay?" He looked at his 'mon. He was about to call him again when his eyes shot open; instantly causing him to leap from Tangi's arms and right towards the Lucario. He responded by kicking the lizard back at the tree; this time cracking it. As Flint stood up again, Tangi placed a hand in front of him. "Flint… We need to stop." He looked at his partner with a stern look. "This isn't going to end well if we keep this up."

"Charmander!" Flint glared at Tangi in anger. Tangi knew instantly it wasn't just an expression anymore; it was also his angry towards his trainer for suggesting such an idea.

Tangi closed his eyes, opened them and turned towards the Lucario. He stared for a moment. "… Flint, I don't want you to get hurt anymore because I want to be the valiant one. I'll handle this now; you've been hurt enough. Alright?" Tangi turned towards Flint in time to be smacked in the face by the small Pokémon. He looked backed towards Flint. His eyes still in his fighting expression, but he still had enough control over himself to be a smartass. Tangi chuckled. "Sorry. I was just considering my feelings and not how you felt." He stood up and turned towards the Lucario. "We'll have to wrap this up fast. We gotta check on Rebecca still ya know."

'_Rebecca…?_' The name seemed familiar to Lucario but he wasn't sure how. Right now all he could think of was finding his 'trainer' and settling things. While lost in thought though he left his guard down and missed the command the boy gave his Charmander.

Flint attached himself yet again on the leg of Lucario with the same vice-grip as before. He dashed towards the building again preparing to kick the smaller Pokémon into it again, but Flint let go and twisted himself along the leg and dashed towards his face.

"Blast Burn!" No sooner than Tangi's command left his lips did Flint prime and fire the ball of flame at Lucario surrounding him in pillars of fire before being swallowed by the center flame-tower. Tangi and Flint stood there; waiting to see if the attack had succeeded as they planned. When it died down, Tangi's eyes shot open to a shocked state. Lucario stood there as if he never got hit.

"… Pitiful," he muttered towards the trainer and Pokémon pair. He clasped his hands together to make an Aura Sphere. Flint stood in an evasive stance and Tangi was about to shout something when the light of the sphere disappeared. They stared at the Lucario as he stood there, hmphed at them both and fell face first onto the ground. After a brief moment of gawking, Tangi walked over towards him and grabbed him.

"Come on Flint. Nurse Joy can check him while we sit with Reb." Flint closed his eyes and sighed. When he reopened they reverted back to his normal blue eyes. He nodded and they marched inside.

Tangi walked the Lucario up the stairs towards the entrance till the Chansey from before brought a medical stretcher to take the Pokémon to his new room. Tangi looked over to Nurse Joy as she came down stairs. "Is she alright?"

"Hmm," with a nod. "The glass wasn't in so deep to be harmful. She'll be able to walk around tomorrow. I'm guessing it ended well with you three?"

"Uh huh. Flint was pretty awesome out there," finished Tangi with a wide grin. Then it suddenly struck him about the collateral damage. "Err… Eheh. Um, yeah. The fight kind of got wild and um…"

"Oh, please don't worry. We have insurance here for a reason!" She smiled.

"Heh, alright then." Tangi smiled but looked towards the ground as he did. He looked over at Flint who looked properly worn out (and for good reasons). "Nurse Joy, could we have a room?"

"Of course. I'll have a room ready soo-"

"With two beds."

"Understoo-"

"And with Lucario sharing the room with us." To that she raised her right brow. "Please. I need to talk to him." She looked at him but finally nodded.

"Let me go make the preparations." He nodded as she walked off. He picked up Flint and sat down in one of the waiting room chairs, waiting for the room to be ready for them.

Lucario slowly opened his eyes and found himself inside the PokéCenter again. '_How… I lost?_' He turned towards the window in time to see the last glimpse of the sun setting. '_Hmm. I must have if it's this late…_' He turned to his right and saw the Charmander from before curled up in the second bed; making him smile to himself.

"I see you're awake." He sat up and looked towards the middle of the room, There on the floor was the human from the rooftop; Flint's trainer. With a grin he asked, "Feeling better?"

Lucario turned towards the window again. "Aren't these rooms meant for ill Pokémon? Shouldn't you be outside?"

"But inside I can keep an eye on both of you."

"… I don't need anyone looking out for me."

"That's just for now. No one likes to be alone forever."

"That's why no one lives forever," Lucario stated bluntly while turning to face Tangi.

"Heh." He stood up and walked towards the window. "You know… I heard what happened from you. I guess Rebecca saw what happened and brought you here."

"Then you know why I wanted to leave."

Tangi stared out towards the tree where Flint was knocked into a few times in the brawl. "Yea, I get your reason for that. I just don't get why you attacked Rebecca."

"What?!" Lucario stared widely at Tangi, then turned and stared at the foot of his bed; racking his brain for a memory of him harming the girl. "Is she well?"

"Yea. She'll be up and about tomorrow morning. She wanted me to tell you that she's sorry she couldn't keep you stable."

"… She shouldn't blame herself for that."

"And you shouldn't blame yourself for before; nor because of your trainer!" Lucario turned to him. Tangi glared at him before sighing to himself. "Sorry. It's just I know how it is with some situations like this. It's easy to blame yourself because you need something to blame; you being the easiest thing to find." He looked back out the window. "If something really is your fault, then yes. Blame yourself. But I know you couldn't control what you did to her. And I know being abandoned wasn't your fault. It's HIS fault! Your trainer misused your trust in him to try and ditch you! It's his fault for attacking you and putting you in here! Not yours!" Tangi took a few, deep breaths before he noticed that Flint was stirring awake. He walked over and picked him up. "Lucario, I'm sorry for yelling. It's just…" he paused. He wanted to pick the right words to say while rocking Flint back to sleep.

"It's just I would do the same thing when I was a kid. Hell, I still do it now that I think about it. 'If it wasn't my fault, then it was no one's fault.' But that's wrong… That only leads to you hating yourself."

Lucario turned his gaze form Tangi to the foot of his bed again; taking in what the human just said. He smiled and closed his eyes. '_Hmph._' When he opened his eyes again, Tangi was laying Flint back down on the bed, then proceeded back to his spot on the floor.

"Lucario." They looked at each other. "What will you do now?" Tangi waited for an answer but only received silence. "Well," he started, "Flint and I are taking on the Sinnoh League challenge. If your old trainer is in on it, there's a good chance I might run into him.

Lucario raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I tag along and 'get even'?"

"No. I'm suggesting you try to talk to him first, AND THEN get even. You know; have a clear motive and what not." Lucario chuckled slightly at the poor joke. "And…"

"And?"

"… I wanted to ask if you'd come with us as a team member. You really are something else. Please don't think of that being the only reason I'm talking with you though.

Lucario closed his eyes. "Before. When Flint and I were fighting… I fainted, yes?"

"Yea."

"Why didn't you catch me then?"

Tangi pondered on this for a while. "… To be honest, the thought did cross my mind. But…" he stared off. "But I heard you were mistreated. So I guess I thought you'd feel I forced you onto the team and hate me for it. I don't want you to hate me before you know me I guess." Both sat in the silence of the now darken room. "Anyway, it's late. If you wanna talk more, let's do it in the morning." He nodded and both shifted around to get comfortable. "Good night, Lucario." He grunted and both fell asleep.

Morning came faster than Tangi wanted. '_Man, I'm never ready to wake up…_' He forced himself into a sitting position before surveying the room. Flint was stirring, seeming to be more unwilling to wake up then Tangi. But Lucario was no longer in his bed. '_Guess he left…_' Sighing, he got up and spent the next twenty minutes packing and preparing himself for the day.

"Certain you won't stay a bit longer?" Nurse Joy was giving Flint a final check up before the two left.

"Yeah, I still need to get my first badge," he admitted with some embarrassment. "Where's Rebecca?"

"She's still sleeping. I didn't want to wake her, but did you want to say good bye?" She handed Flint back over to Tangi.

"Nah. Can you tell her I said good luck to her when she wakes up though?" She nodded and he grabbed Flint. "Any clue where Lucario went to?" She shook her head no this time. "Hope he's going to be okay... Well, we better get going." He placed Flint down on the ground and headed towards the door. "Later Nurse J-GAH!" Tangi had tripped and face planted onto the steps outside. "Man, why is it ALWAYS the face?"

"Sleep well?" He turned and saw the Lucario from yesterday leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Uh… Yea, I guess?" Lucario moved closer. "Hey, were you the one that tri- BWAH!" Lucario used Aura Sphere on Tangi's face and sent him backwards. "Again with the face!" he shouted grabbing it. "And what was that-"

"For?" Lucario stared at Tangi. "That was for all the snoring you were doing."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Sorry?"

"I just woke up. I don't have the energy to argue about if I was or wasn't."

"Well, expect to be waking up early. Trainers should train with their Pokémon. Sides, I could use an early morning sparring partner," he finished with a smirk.

Tangi blinked a few times at Lucario before the statement he made sunk in. "Wait, you mean you want to-" he started before Lucario nodded. Smiling, Tangi stood up. Flint climbed up his clothes to his shoulder as he reached out to shake hands with Lucario. "Welcome to the team!" Lucario reached out but didn't shake. Instead he smacked a book into Tangi's hands. "Eh? Wait, this is mine."

"Yea, I found it. Interesting read. I especially liked the one about that Fenrir fellow. Thus, that is what you shall call me."

"Fenrir… Hmm." Tangi flopped open his book and looked at it. "'_The Feral Wolf'_ Hmm… Sounds too cool for you," he muttered only to be greeted with a Force Palm to the gut. Flint jumped off and over to the Lucario. Clutching his gut Tangi muttered, "Fenrir is a perfect name for you…"

"I knew you would agree," Fenrir said with a smile.

Footnote: Wewt another chapter done! Thanks to everyone that put a story watch on this!

Fun Fact: Riolu was really my second Pokémon. I got him from a friend for a shiny Bidoof. I cried slightly that my first shiny Pokémon I encountered was a Bidoof…. But friend wanted it for only God knows why.

Chapter Preview: Tangi and team runs into a Battle Tent promoting the event in Sinnoh, only to meet not only Tank but his third Pokémon!

Tangi Note: Why do all my Pokémon so far seem to want to hurt and/or kill me? *sob* *cry* *sob*


	5. A Taste of Hoenn

A/N: Chapter Five! I got a few more story alerts not even an hour after chapter four was posted! Thanks all! In this chapter, Tangi will obtain his third Pokémon via the Battle Tent and tag battle with Tank. Events take place about an hour after Tangi left the PokéCenter in Jubilife (about 9am if you want an exact time.) I decided to make chapter five end with the gang entering Oreburgh City instead of just them leaving the Battle Tent like I originally wrote. Enjoy~!

Chapter 5: A Taste of Hoenn

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"What?"

"You know; that." Tangi was walking down the sunny-lit path of Route 203 with Flint, his Charmander, riding along on his shoulders. To his left was his newest member, Fenrir; a Lucario who learned to speak English while he trained in the wild. He was reading Tangi's book about mythology without keeping an eye on the road ahead. "You really shouldn't read and walk at the same time. How do you know you're not about to crash into something?" Fenrir turned a page in the book before raising a brow.

"I'm pretty sure I can manage just fine. You're about to walk into something though."

"Ha! Nice try Fen-WHACK!" Tangi had walked into a low hanging branch that smacked him in the face. Flint jumped off his shoulders towards Fenrir before he was flattened by his trainer. They both turned to him in time to see the dust cloud his body made upon impact; sighing in sync. Fenrir was about to make a comment when Tangi shot his right arm up, directing his pointy finger at the Lucario. "Not. One. Word." He sat up only to be greeted by a flying lizard. "Gah! I'm fine! Get off! Get off!"

"Look at that. Flint's showing you his Lick attack." Fenrir looked back at the book chuckling slightly at the scene that was taking place before him. He felt something nearby. He closed his eyes and could see multiple people ahead on the road via his Aura powers. He turned to tell Tangi but stopped and laughed. There Flint was, wrapped around Tangi's neck, making his trainer turn blue in the face and him refusing to let go.

"I! NEED! AIR!!!" Tangi finally pried Flint off, sighed, and then was greeted with an Ember attack to the face for not letting the lizard stay in place. "Oh… If life is a television show, I must be the best sitcom," he stated in a muttering voice with a hint of what sounded like sobbing.

"An-anyway," Fenrir started, getting everyone's attention. "There's a grouping of people ahead. You wanted me to let you know if I sensed one, right?"

"Ah, thanks Fenrir." Tangi stood up, brushed the dirt off his shorts, then grabbed his Pokémon's Pokéballs and returned them. He placed them back on his belt, took a breath of air, and ran down the road ahead of him.

BRING-BRING. The phone behind the counter of the Jubilife PokéCenter was going off just as Nurse Joy and Rebecca had walked down stairs. "I wonder who'd call this early…" Nurse Joy walked over and picked up the phone. "Jubilife Pokémon Center; this is Nurse Joy, how may I help you?"

"Good morning Nurse Joy," the voice said on the other end. She recognized the voice so she turned on the picture tube. It was Professor Rowan on the other end.

"Professor! And how are you this morning?"

"Conflicted," he said with a sigh.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes; that is why I called. It came to my knowledge this morning that a trainer of mine ignored my orders of not leaving home and started out his journey. He more than likely has already passed you by…"

Rebecca moved into view on the screen. "Um, professor…?"

Rowan looked over at her. "Oh, hello there Rebecca. How are you fairing?"

"Fine. Sir, Tangi just left here this morning." Rowan's eyes widened. "It was only an hour ago though. Is something wrong?"

"His Charmander… It's not safe. I just got the details from Professor Burch; expert in Pokémon behavior… Tangi mentioned that Flint's pupils would narrow during fights."

Nurse Joy cutted in. "Yes, I noticed him doing that yesterday… What's wrong?

"… Professor Burch noted that this behavior tends to be common in the Shinnies. They're quicker to respond to situations and seem to have an enhanced battle style."

Reb took her turn to cut in now. "But isn't that good? It just means Flint is a better fighter cause of that, right?"

The professor sighed. "Yes, and more dangerous. Flint is tapping into some energy locked away in him. Too much of it means he could harm someone…"

"Flint'd never do that!" Rebecca shouted towards the picture tube. "I can't see him ever doing that…"

"Rebecca…" Nurse Joy grabbed the girl by the shoulders and tried to push her back into her chair.

"You're right." Nurse Joy turned towards the phone. "Flint would never do such a thing. But that can't be said when his genes kick in." Rowan grabbed the temple of his forehead and started to rub at them; trying to ward off a headache. "This behavior is triggered by a gene that's doesn't exist in normal Pokémon; making it strange on how a Shiny gains it. It instantly triggers a 'killer instinct,' if you would. Flint is only skimming the surface of this power… But he may very well end up consumed by it if he dwells on it too long."

"So…" Rebecca nodded to herself and looked towards the professor. "I'll track him down, sir. I'll tell him what's wrong so he can come home."

Professor Rowan smiled. "No my dear. I believe you had started out on a journey for a reason?" Rebecca thought about it. She did want to get gym badges and face the Elite Four along with doing contest, but…

"Sir, I'll be traveling anyway. If I see him before you can get a hold of him, I'll relay the message." Professor Rowan nodded. "'sides, he just left town. If I'm lucky I can catch up to him in no time flat!" Reb grabbed her bag and bolted off towards the door.

"Ah, children these days… So full of energy." Nurse Joy smiled.

"This is why you continue to work with them, is it not?" Rowan chuckled. "Sir… If this genetic trait is as dangerous as you say… Then there's a chance that Flint may never learn to control it." Rowan's face turned serious with a small bit of gloom showing.

"Yes. There's a good chance he'll never control it. In which case…"

"Weird tent… Is the circus setting up here?" Tangi finally reached the crowd of people who were gathering around a large tent. It had a blue Pokéball on the top and banners all around it of different Pokémon. There were two tables set up near the entrance with people in blue jump suits sitting behind them. "They certainly look like clowns to me…" he muttered before walking up to the table. "Um, sir?"

The man looked up, pushing his glasses up before speaking. "Ah, hello. Would you happen to be interested in signing up for the Battle Tent?" Tangi stared at the man with a questioning expression. "Ahahah, I've seen that look all day. This is the Battle Tent! It's actually a traveling tent in which trainers can battle other trainers for prizes. See, we originally started in the Hoenn region. It grew so popular there that we started promoting the event in all regions," he finished with a smile.

"… Uh, sure. Guess I'll give it a go," Tangi answered with a shrug. The man smiled.

"That's great! We have four trainers counting you, so we'll set up a special match for all four of you. If you'd just follow that woman over there to where you'll meet up with the other participates. And please fill this out." He handed Tangi a forum. "We just need you to list which Pokémon you will be using in the match." Tangi nodded and walked over towards the woman the man indicated. The man walked into the tent and shouted towards the audience inside, "All right kiddies! The match will start shortly, so if you'd all take your seats, we will get this show going shortly!" A few cheers and whistles came from the crowd. The man turned towards the representatives that stayed at the table and shouted over to them. "Let the outside people know we'll be starting soon so they can get a spot in the crowd."

"Okay Tangi. My name is Laurie and I'll be the announcer this match. You have here that you will be using a Charmander and a Lucario, yes?" Tangi nodded. "Very well, just sit in this room until we can get the stage ready. Depending on the rules, you'll only be able to use one of those Pokémon so please chose ahead of time which will it be."

'_Bleh. How am I supposed to pick?_' Tangi scratched his head as Laurie walked away. He turned towards the double-doors and pushed them open, taking a look around the waiting room. On one side was a trainer in a white jogger suit with sunglasses on, in the middle of the room, near the TV, was a woman in a purple T-shirt and blue jeans with her hair tied back into a ponytail. '_Jeez, guess I shouldn't make fun of how Reb dresses…_' He turned his head to the other side to see a man Tangi recognized instantly from his yellow hair under his green cap and green vest over the plain white shirt he wore. "Hey! Tank!" Tank turned around with Eve, his Eevee, in his hands.

"Ah, Tangi. Nice to see ya again." He walked half way towards Tangi, with him covering the other half of the distance. "You're taking part in this event?"

"Oh yea. You know me! Battle plus prizes is a must! How about you?"

"Well, I asked Eve and she wanted to do this so I just went with it," he said in a rather matter-of-fact tone. "Did your Pokémon wanna join?" Tangi jumped a bit at this remark. He laughed a little nervously. "So no?" Tangi sighed and nodded.

"Yea, I sort of jumped into it. I'll ask them now." He grabbed his Pokéballs and pressed the release button revealing Fenrir and Flint. Flint was eager as normal and Fenrir just walked over to Tangi, socked him in the gut, and pulled out the book from his backpack. "What the hell Fenrir?!"

"What? It looked like it was called for." The two other trainers looked towards the Lucario trying to tell if it just actually spoke.

"What are you talking about?"

"You had a look of guilt on your face." He flipped to the spot he left off on. "Figured you jumped into something without telling us, right?" Tangi felt the cold blade of reality stab through him again.

"Eheheheh… Well, maybe." He sighed; then continued. "Well, we're in a Battle Tent. We're suppose to fight those guys over there and this guy right her-" Tangi looked over towards Tank and noted he was not to his left anymore. Tangi looked over at Flint who was playing with Eve then over at Fenrir who was being stared at by the two other trainers. "Where did Tank go?"

"I'm right here" Tangi nearly jumped out of his skin when Tank spoke up right behind him. "You were hit pretty hard so I grabbed some ice." He threw it towards Tangi who caught it but felt the force behind it.

"Man, you throw as hard as Fenrir punches…" He placed the ice on his gut and watched as Tank walked over with cups towards Flint and Fenrir; offering them drinks. Tangi blinked. "Thanks, but you didn't have to do that." He shook his head.

"Its fine, I don't mind." Tank walked over with the last cup and poured some of it in a bowl he materialized out of one of his many vest pockets for Eve. She growled happily at her trainer and began drinking along with Flint who was chugging away at his cup. He sighed when he was done and hiccupped. "Oh, sorry." Tank picked Flint up without letting him know and smacked him hard on the back, forcing a pop of air and flames to come out. Flint blinked a few times then laughed at this, prompting Tank to do it again.

"Uh oh, you got him started with burping flames… Now he'll aim it at me every time," Tangi said with a laugh. He opened his eyes again to see Flint giving him a mischievous grin, making Tangi yet again urked at the scene.

"Will you two keep it down…?" Tank and Tangi looked towards the guy in the white jogger suit. "Some of us like to relax before a fight." Tangi was about to speak up till Tank stepped forward.

"Sorry. We'll keep it down." The white-guy hmphed and continued to rest his eyes (at least Tangi assumed he was since he wore sunglasses.) The girl in purple chuckled slightly and them.

"Honestly, listing to that snob so easily. Maybe if I ask you to throw the match you would," she finished with an 'ohohoho!' making Tangi want to plug his ears from how loud she was. She turned back towards the screen as the jogger guy started shouting obscenities at her. Tangi, Tank and their Pokémon (including Fenrir) all stared at the other two momentary before turning back to what they were doing beforehand.

"Anywho…" Tangi started. "That Laurie chick said we needed to have at least one Pokémon in mind before we battle. You got yours Tank?"

Tank nodded. "Eve was the one that wanted to fight so I'm going to be using her. And you?" Tangi looked towards his options. He had a Lucario who was a great fighter but liked to beat him if he screwed up on something… Then he had a flame breathing newt that was nice but tried to bite his limbs off if he makes even the smallest joke at his expense…

"… I'm not sure which one is the safer choice," he finished while making a sobbing face. Tank laughed then pulled out his Pokédex.

"Hm. I suggest Flint. He's under-level." Tangi blinked.

"Wait, I thought that thing only scans your Pokémon.

"Oh no, it only scans their moves. You can get a rough level estimate of any Pokémon with this though. Here, gimme yours and I'll show ya." Tangi pulled his Pokédex out and passed it to Tank. He flipped it open and hit the A B and R button at the same time popping up a scan window. He aimed it at Flint and Fenrir then pressed A again. Both of their status bars popped up showing their HP and Level.

Flint- HP: 100% Lv.12

Fenrir- HP: 100% Lv.28

Tangi blinked at the level difference between them. '_Wow… And Flint won against Fenrir yesterday. Wonder what level he was before winning that fight._' Tank interrupted his thoughts.

"How did you get such a high level Lucario that listens to you without gym badges?" Fenrir looked up over the pages of 'his' book towards the pair seeing Tangi look towards the floor, thinking of an answer.

"Well… I found him wild so I decided to catch him." Tangi decided he should lie about the situation so Fenrir's past wasn't brought up into light of others that didn't need to know. Fenrir smiled then returned to reading. Tank nodded.

"Well, I still say go with Flint. He could use the fighting experience anyway." Tangi lightly laughed in response. He was about to tell him about Flint's battles when the PA system turned on.

"Will all trainers please report to center stage for the battle! I repeat; will all trainers-"

"About time," the white suited male said with a yawn. He rose from his chair and out the door with the purple-shirt gal following close behind.

"Oh, don't act like such a bore!" She chased after him 'ohohoho'ing all the way down the hall.

"Shall we?" Tank picked up Eve and let her rest on his hat. "See you in the arena Tangi." He walked out with his back towards them, waving from over his shoulder. Tangi blinked a few times.

"Hm. Fenrir, you wanna stay outta the ball and read on the side lines? I might get to switch 'mon out." Fenrir nodded and stood up, punching Tangi in the arm. "Ow! Okay, I know I didn't do anything wrong that time!"

Fenrir smiled. "Of course not. That was because we're friends." He walked out the door and walked in the direction of the other trainers. Tangi stood there in a state of slight shock as Flint climbed up his clothes and nudged his face. He turned towards the lizard and smiled.

"Hear that? Said we're friends." He grinned wider than he felt he ever grinned before in his life as he walked out the double doors.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming to our special promotional Battle Tent! Today I will be your announcer, Laurie!" The girl from before was in a completely different outfit. She still wore blue but it was an azure blue shirt and skirt with white tennis shoes. The crowd cheered madly as she tried to calm them down. "Thank you all for coming today! We have a special treat for you all; a first in Battle Tent history! Today's challengers will fight in a 1vs1vs1vs1 match; a four-way 'free for all' if you would!" More cheers ensued. "So let's meet our participants!" Laurie pointed over towards the corridor where the four trainers stood. "In corner one we have David; a citizen of Jubilife City who joined us while he was on his morning jog!" David walked out onto the arena acting seemingly oblivious to the cheering around him. "In corner two we have Linaly from Oreburgh City!" The girl walked out towards her corner with, yet again, her signature 'ohohohoh!' Even the crowd grew silent at how high pitch her voice was; Laurie cringing as well. "C-continuing on…" She waved her hand towards the corridor again. "In corner three with have Tank, another boy from Jubilife City!" Tank walked out towards his corner with Eve jumping down by his feet when he reached it. "Lastly, in corner four, we have Tangi; who comes from Sandgem Town!"

'_Tangi…?_' A man in a lab coat and khaki shorts that was sitting out ahead of the crowd near the judges table stared at the boy and the Charmander that rested on his shoulder. '_So, this is the boy Rowan talked about…_' he thought till he was interrupted by the cheering from the crowd.

"Okay, here are the rules! Each side is allowed to use only one Pokémon. Each side can attack any of the other side's regardless of if it would normally be considered a 'gang up.' Items are not allowed to be used unless Pokémon enter the field with them equipped already. Are these rules understood?" Each trainer nodded. "Then, after a word from our sponsor, we shall begin!" Laurie stepped to the sides as lab-coated man stepped up on the stage; causing everyone to gasp. There, in flesh and blood, stood Professor Burch; head scientist of the Hoenn region.

"Ahahah! Yes, I know! It's rather shocking for me to be at something so formal; I know!" He started laughing loudly before clearing his throat. "Ahem. Sorry about that!" He smiled widely at the trainers. "Each of you were brave enough to step forward to fight one another in front of this crowd gathered here today. To honor that, each of you shall be rewarded afterwards. Of course, the rewards differ depending on how you do in the match so keep that in mind!" With another laugh he walked off stage just as fast as he entered it.

'_Wow, Professor Burch… I've only ever seen him when Professor Rowan talked to him._' Tangi grinned to himself. '_Wonder what the prize is…_' he thought as he was interrupted by the announcer.

"And with that, let the match begin! Each side will call out their Pokémon!" Tangi jumped slightly before the words registered.

"Go, Flint!"

"Let's do this Eve!"

"Knock them out Tauros!"

"Take charge Whismur!" All Pokémon made center stage. Tangi noted that Flint's eyes did indeed change but he wasn't worried anymore.

'_I told him I trust him. So I'll just have to keep doing that._' He nodded to himself then shouted towards his partner, "Start things off with a Smokescreen!" Flint emitted a fog of black smoke, him jumping out of it along with Eve. He looked over to the Eevee and Burch took notice of this.

'_Hm, he'll lung at the Eevee now and try to knock it out first._' Professor Burch knew the behavior he saw in front of him. He noted behavioral changes in Pokémon of the 'shiny' genesis. They were more expressive of their natures; whether more passive then most or extremely more savage and willing to act on their impulses; these being the only two he's ever seen in the shinnies. But to his surprise the Charmander did nothing to the Eevee. He blinked a few times thinking he missed something, but there they were, standing next to each other. Staring into the cloud of darkness the lizard made less than a minute ago. It seemed like they were communing to each other… He pulled out his binoculars he carried on hand and looked at them. Sure enough, Flint was in his crazed mode; pupils dilated. His mouth gapped open a bit then he laughed at himself. '_The world of Pokémon never ceases to surprise me…_' He grinned as he looked onto the battlefield with newly founded interest.

"Eve and Flint seem to be tag battling for now." Tangi looked towards Tank as he shouted towards him. Tank nodded. "How about it?" Tangi grinned.

"Not like we have a say in the matter!" They both laughed as shouting came from beyond the other side.

"You can't do this! This is a coward's way of fighting" The girl was screeching like a banshee on the other side.

"Oh shut up! Tauros! Charge out of there!" The Pokémon did so and ended up right between Flint and Eve.

"Flint, Blast burn!"

"Eve, Iron Tail!" Eve managed to get her attack off before Flint due to him charging the fireball up. She smacked the Tauros upside the head; knocking it down on his side. Flint held the ball in place as she jumped out of harm's way, letting the ball of flames fly towards their mark and hit dead-on. The Tauros laid there in the smoldering flames. Then the announcer called it.

"Tauros is unable to battle! Trainer one is out of the match!" Loud shouting could be heard on the other side from the groveling trainer. A moment later though, the Tauros was swallowed up into his red light and back in his ball. Tangi and Tank looked at their Pokémon and grinned at them both; receiving equally large grins from the 'mons themselves. Burch smiled.

'_Maybe he can control it…_' He'd have to watch the rest of the match before he considered informing Rowan of his change in analysis.

The smoke cleared off the field revealing a shaken Whismur. Eve and Flint walked over towards it and started to circle around. Suddenly, Linaly let out another ear-piercing laugh. "You fools have walked right into my trap! Whismur; Screech!" The pink 'mon obeyed and let out a cry that put its master's laugh to shame in terms of ear-piercing. Flint and Eve covered their ears. "Now Tackle that hideously brown lump of fur!" A leap later, the Whismur had smacked against Eve; knocking it towards the edge of the arena. "Ohohohohoho!!!"

'_God I wish she'd stop that!_' Tangi cringed every time he heard that laughter. He looked over at the Whismur and saw it was mimicking its master's laugh. He looked over at Flint who noticed this as well. They stared at each other before nodding. "Hey Linaly! That was a nice sneak attack! What say you finish off that Eevee and we have ourselves a real match?" Tank looked over at Tangi shocked as she shouted back.

"But of course! Now wait there my dear, this will only take a minute!" She pulled her head back and started to laugh again; causing her 'mon to mimic her again. Tangi smiled.

"Now Flint!" Flint lunged at the Whismur; closing the distance in less than a second. He grabbed it with his teeth and tossed it up. "Fire Fang!" His mouth engulfed in flames as he jumped into the air and bit into the pink Pokémon again. "Now toss it!" He did so and tossed it right into the ground below. "And finish up wit-"Tangi hadn't even given the command when Flint let fly multiple Embers at the Whismur. The cloud of dust dispersed to reveal one roasted and knocked out pink ball of a 'mon.

"Whismur is unable to battle! Trainer Two is out of the match!" Linaly cried out in defeat letting tears form at her eyes. She quickly returned her Pokémon to its ball and ran out of the tent without even waiting to receive her third place prize. Tangi looked over at Tank with a smile across his face, giving him a thumb up. Tank just chuckled. He looked out towards Eve who was being helped up by Flint.

"I don't think those two are going to battle each other." Tangi blinked at him and looked over at their 'mons. He smiled again.

"Yea, not happening today." He waved towards the announcer. "Hey lady! I forfeit for second place!" Tank Eve and Flint looked at him.

She nodded. "Tangi has forfeited for second place. So today's first place winner is Tank from Jubilife City!" The crowd broke out into a cheer as the two trainers walked over to their Pokémon. Eve jumped into Tank's arms as Flint turned his back from Tangi and crossed his paws; puffing his cheeks.

"Aww, come on boy. Would you really have fought her?" Flint looked over at Eve for a bit, and then puffed out a few smoke rings. Tangi snickered. "It's okay if you have a crush! I could just tell-"Flint clamped his mouth around Tangi's head. "T-t-this only supports the fact you're in love; the fact that you're so angry about it!" Flint bit down harder. "OW! OKAY! I'M SORRY!" Burch walked up the steps laughing and clapping at the two. Flint dropped his death grip and fell into his trainer's arms.

"Wonderful fight, all of you!" He clapped his hands together some more causing the crowd to join in. He turned towards then and motioned for them to calm to a mutter again before turning back towards the trainers before him. "As they mentioned before, there are prizes. Though I don't believe then qualify for trainers of your caliber!" Both Tangi and Tank blushed slightly. "Here." He held out three pieces of paper. "Tank, you placed first place. You have first pick. Don't look at it though till Tangi pulls his." He nodded and pulled the last slip in the professor's hand. Tangi decided to pull the first one leaving the middle on in Burch's hand. They both flipped over their papers and saw pictures of Pokémon.

"… A Mudkip?

"Treecko?" Tangi stared at the paper, then turned to the professor before catching a ball tossed at him. Tank looked up in time to grab his too. They both stared at the Pokéballs in their hands before turning to Burch.

"You see," he started. "Those I had planned to give out at the main attraction meant to take place later today. But your battle showed you two are just as trustworthy as any elite trainer." He grinned at them as they stared at him; not sure what to think. "Well don't just gawk at me all day! Open them up!" They both listened and pressed the release buttons. Out of Tank's came a Mudkip and out of Tangi's came a Treeko.

"Uh, sir?" Tangi looked up at Burch who looked back. "T-thank you for the thought, but I wouldn't feel right just taking him…" He thought back on how his other two Pokémon had a choice in the matter as he turned towards the Treecko who was looking around the stage.

"Well, ask him then." Tangi looked back towards the professor. "If they don't want to travel then I'll simply take them back and give you the other reward." He blinked a few times then turned to Treecko who turned to him.

"Well… Uh, hi." Tangi said weakly. He felt weird about how the grass type was staring at him. "A-anyway. Do you wanna come hang with us?" He smiled weakly. Treecko just blinked. "See, we're going to get the badges in this region and fight the champion. You could be a hall of famer. And we could be friends too if you'd let me!" He widened his smile and closed his eyes trying to show how happy he was. Treecko blinked again then turned towards the creature coming up from behind Tangi; which proceeded to Force Palm him in the back of the head. Tangi's face was now in the stage floor. He muttered into it; "What is it now Fenrir…?"

"You didn't win." He spoke with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Tangi jerked slightly.

"W-well I didn't want Flint to fight Eve and stuff and I still got second place so that's something and, -"another Force Palm.

Fenrir sighed. "I guess I'll let it slide for now." Treecko stared at the pair.

"Why did you Force Palm me again then…"

"It feels as natural as breathing for some reason."

"… I hate my life," he sobbed into the floor below him. Treecko blinked a few times then started laughing insanely. Everyone turned towards him; including Professor Burch. He'd never seen this Pokémon react in such a way. Tangi sat up to be greeted by the green gecko who was still laughing away. He smiled. So, care to come along?" Treeko nodded with a smile.

"Treeeeecko!"

"So, did you decide on a name?" Professor Burch was outside with Tangi and Tank now. Tangi was ready to head off towards Oreburgh Gate.

"Hm. Fenrir found a good one." He pulled out his book and opened it up. "Since Treeckos evolve into Sceptiles, which are in the dragon egg family, I thought Nidhogg was good." Professor Burch grabbed the book from Tangi. "_'The dragon that lives under the tree of the world; eating away at its roots.'_ That's what it says more or less." Professor Burch nodded.

"A fine name. And you Tank? What did you give Mudkip?"

"Well, I thought Acuity would be nice. It's the name of a lake to the north of the region." Burch nodded again in agreement with the name. Tank turned towards Tangi. "You said you're heading to Oreburgh Tangi?"

Tangi nodded. "Yea. I wanted to get my first badge."

"I'm going in that direction. Wanna team up again?" He smiled.

"Yea, sure!" They shook hands on it. "Thanks again Professor Burch! We'll see ya around maybe!"

"Just one moment Tangi." Tangi froze and just blinked at the professor. "Tank, if you wouldn't mind… This is something only for Tangi's ears. Tangi's and Flints." Tank nodded and walked off. Tangi decided since Burch said his and Flint's ears that he should be out to listen to this. He popped open the Pokéball and picked Flint up off the ground.

"Yes professor?"

Burch sighed. "Tangi, you need to know something." He had a bad feeling about this. "Flint is a shiny…"

"Yea, already knew that since day one."

"Now, let me finish." Tangi groaned inward. "Now Flint being a shiny means that his genetic coding is slightly different then other Pokémon. You may have notice this already…"

"The eyes, yea."

"And him suddenly making decisions in battle." Tangi thought back on this. He did it their match versus Hazru, again versus Fenrir, and today versus that Whismur. "Now, this genetic feature isn't from his parents or blood or anything like other traits; it's from an unknown source in him." Tangi looked down at Flint who was looking forward at Burch. "Tangi, Flint has some pool of energy in him he keeps tapping into during battles that comes from this supposed mutation. No one knows how deep it is; I doubt even he knows," he finished indicating the last bit towards Flint. "If he gets out of control, he may tap too far into it then he was meant to. He could hurt himself or others. Worse off, he could kill himself or others." Tangi looked right up towards Burch.

"Kill…?" He nodded. Tangi looked back at Flint who, this time, looked up towards Tangi. He just couldn't imagine his friend killing someone; let alone the fact him being dead. "Is… Is there a way to control it?" He looked hopefully at the professor who shrugged.

"I can't promise he can, but I also can't say he couldn't. Most shinnies don't have complete control of this energy tap although some have seemed to close off the connection to it willingly. But, I'm afraid Flint has already tapped into it multiple times. It'd be harder for him to disconnect from it then control it I'd imagine." Tangi felt horrible. The only reason Flint's been using it is because he made him fight. Burch grabbed him by the shoulders. "But, if this counts for anything…" Tangi looked up. "He doesn't fit into any of the categories we have yet for this behavior. It could very well mean he has control over it now and we just don't know it. So let him continue using it. Just if you see a sudden change, return him immediately. Do you understand that?"

Tangi felt a ray of hope shine on him. "Yea! I understand!" He smiled towards the professor and looked back down at Flint who was smiling up to him.

"Then get going." Tangi nodded towards him and bolted off towards where Tank went to only to pop from behind the corner of the tent again.

"Um, if you talk to Professor Rowan, can you tell him what you told me?"

"Certainly. You be careful now, okay?" He nodded and ran off. "Ah, kids today. So full of energy…" He laughed to himself as he made his way to his room where he could call Rowan and inform him of what transpired.

Three hours had passed since Tangi and Tank left the Battle Tent and it was nearing evening time. Both of them had their Pokémon out walking along with them. Flint and Nidhogg were playing around with each other, Eve was resting on top of Tank's hat, Acuity was running around their feet and Fenrir was walking right behind the two trainers reading into the book of mythology Tangi had. Both of them talked about what they wanted to do. Tangi wanted to challenge the Elite Four and Cynthia, where as Tank wanted to be a trainer and breeder like his father was.

"Wow, your dad's the guy that runs the contest across Sinnoh?"

"Yea. Everyone think they're for girls who can't put up with battles, but there's actually more thought that has to be put into it."

"Yea, I don't see any of us entering one anytime soon ahahah…" Sure he could strategize, but Tangi didn't think he could coordinate too well. They walked a bit more talking about their plans still when they finally came up to Oreburgh Gate. "This is it, yea?"

"Uh huh. It's only like a two minute walk through a cave if that. Just the Pokémon here like to fight. Think it is cause of the mining work that goes on near here that agitates them."

"Yea… And yet we have to keep at it, don't we?" Tangi thought as they entered the cave. He didn't like the idea that Pokémon were being driven from their homes but he also knew that was how humans were. Though he also knew that they're never take it too far to endanger Pokémon; that's what he liked the most about this world. How humans wanted and would understand Pokémon for the most part. "So, planning on catching any in here?"

Tank looked around. "Yea, I might later. Right now we should just cut through fast and get a room at the PokéCenter. Don't ya think?" He nodded in agreement as they finished the last stretch of pathway before they walked into the twilight of the evening that developed around Oreburgh City's borderlines. Tangi looked at the PokéCenter's red roof just past the Gym. He nodded to himself.

'_Tomorrow we're dethroning that gym leader…_' He felt like his face turned into the same battle expression that Flint would wear. He looked down at his 'mon and saw the exact same one he thought of across his partner's face. '_And I'll trust Flint; just as I have been._' Still, the thought of something dangerous behind that face began to sink into Tangi's mind…

Footnotes: GAH! 12 PAGES!!! I'm not sure if I make the chatting or fighting scenes too long. Willing to bet it's the talking. -.-;; Sorry~! So yea, a little back story behind this thing with Flint and another member of the team. Yea yea, a Hoenn starter. I didn't feel like waiting till after I filled the Sinnoh Pokédex to be able to use Pal Park lol.

Chapter Preview: When a battle against old enemies turns harsh, will an evolution be for better or for worse? Then, Tangi and the gang battle against Roark; Oreburgh City's Gym Leader.

Tangi's team status:

Fenrir/LUCARIO: Lv.28

Flint/CHARMANDER: Lv.15

Nidhogg/TREECKO: Level 12

Tangi Note: I think I let Nidhogg spend too much time with Flint and Fenrir since he already tried to prank me on the way to Oreburgh Gate. Maybe the next Pokémon I get I should keep away from those three so it doesn't become bent on hurting me…


	6. Berserk

A/N: Okay, funny story. Back in chapter 4 I think I mentioned I played Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Well, I also play Final Fantasy XI too; Ramuh server. That being said, my old computer was making a sound like it was dying for two months straight. As I was typing chapter 6 I had my game minimized still running. Anyway, got about 3 pages into it and my sister pops in for a visit and says; "Do you smell something burning?" And as if she willed it to be, my computer started on fire. Like real fire. That burns. And is hot. (Not as hot as me bow-chica-bow-wow~!) So finally after my emo rage mode passed I bought a new laptop, which I'm currently using! So hoping to get the chapters going again! Sorry all for the wait!

~In memory of~

Intel Pentium Windows XP

2000~2009

*Not really dedicated to it.*

Chapter 6: Berserk

"So, you made it. Figured you got cold feet and stayed at home." Tangi cringed. He looked down the steps slowly and, to his displeasure, was Hazru. He looked the same as before, just his shoes were dirtier and he had a bag over his left shoulder and wearing a wide, eerie smile. "What? What's with the look?"

"I didn't eat anything recently for me to throw-up upon seeing you again, so this face will have to do," he stated bluntly. Hazru chuckled; a reaction Tangi didn't foresee. "What are you gleaming on about?" He reached into his bag and pulled out a case; his badge case. He pressed the release button to reveal that he already had a gym badge; the Coal Badge. Tangi proceeded to gawk at this fact.

"The match itself was too easy," Hazru gloated. "I don't even think the gym leader took me seriously, but that's his problem." Still beaming away, he closed his case and put it back into his pack. "Of course, even if he did take me seriously, it wouldn't have mattered with my skill." He opened his eyes and looked back at Tangi. Then down to Flint, still in his trainer's arms. The death gaze from their match in Sandgem Town was on his face. "I see the beast is still wild," he nodded towards Flint.

"What did you call him?!" Tangi was about to run down towards him when Tank put his arm in front of him. He looked at his giant friend who shook their head 'no'. "Damn it…" He looked down, then back at Hazru; still smiling away as if life had no problems in store for him.

"Touché, aren't we?" He looked around at the rest of the Pokémon present. The Eevee he knew belonged to Tank, but the other three he wasn't sure on. "Hey." Tangi blinked away from his angry expression to a curious one. "Which ones are yours?" Tangi was iffy about answering, but figured there wasn't too much harm in answering.

"Fenrir and Nidhogg are," he stated nodding to the Lucario and Treecko. Hazru looked at them.

'_The Lucario is reading… Meaning he has some basic level of human language? And the other…_' He looked the gecko still running around his trainer's feet. '_Not that bright. Still, I'm willing to bet he's his stronger 'mon…_' he noted to himself while looking back at the Charmander. He noticed the Mudkip sitting on the ground between the two, rocking its head left to right. '_Must be Tank's. Guess Tangi doesn't like Mudkips?_'

(A/N: I'M SORRY! I COULDN'T RESIST! *ahem* Now back to the story.)

"Not much of a line up there Tangi. Only two Pokémon that would actually win the match for you at the gym," he said while closing his eyes and crossing his arms. "The newt would just screw up the match for ya."

Flint jumped down from Tangi's arms and got on all fours, snarling at Hazru. Tangi shouted back, "Care to repeat that?!" He himself was ready to jump at the guy. Hazru started chuckling again. "We could wipe the floor with ya in no time!"

"Care to back that statement up?" He grabbed his Pokéball off his waist and enlarged it. "How about a rematch from Sandgem Town? Same Pokémon." He grinned slyly to himself, knowing Tangi was in no mood to back down now.

"Fine!"

"Each side will use one Pokémon. First side that is unable to continue is declared defeated. Rules followed so far?" Tank looked from Tangi to Hazru to be sure they both understood him. They all decided best place for a fight was outside the PokéCenter; Tangi for in case something bad did happen to Flint and Hazru for the same reason. Both nodded. "Very well. Now, unlike Sandgem Town, if a trainer enters the field without calling Time-Out for a legit reason, they will not be disqualified." That was the one part that annoyed Tank about how the winner was declared in the first match; Tangi entered the field out of fear for his Pokémon's safety and was called the loser. He looked at Hazru for approval and he received it. "Right then, on my mark…"

'_This won't be a repeat. We got more tactics than before,_' Tangi thought to himself while beaming away much like Hazru was moments ago. He looked at Flint who was standing ready next to him; eyes still in his "berserk" mode. Tangi frowned slightly. '_He's had that expression since we entered town. Hope he doesn't have to stay that way much longer._'

'_This won't be a repeat. I'll win._' Flint thought to himself. He had been angry about that match ever since he saw Hazru again. All he could think about was that defeat. All the rage from then was coming back and adding on top of what he had already build up.

Tank raised his arms. "Go!"

"Flint!" Flint leapt from his trainer's side onto the field and into his battle-ready position.

"Genbu." Hazru threw his Pokéball coolly into the air, releasing his starter onto the field. However, what appeared wasn't what Tangi thought it would be. Standing there, in place of the little Squirtle was a slightly larger Wartortle. Tangi's jaw dropped.

"Wha-wha-WHAT?!" Tangi jumped and pointed at the evolved Genbu. "How the HELL is this a rematch if he evolved!" Hazru stared coldly at him.

"Well, I can't exactly UN-evolve him, now can I?" His expression changed to a more serious one. "The referee said the match has started, did he not?" Tangi stared at Hazru before his words caught on. "Genbu, Rapid Spin." He lunged towards Flint and withdrew into his shell; spinning at high speeds towards Flint.

"Ugh, damn it! Dodge it Flint!" He did so by leaping over the shell; a mistake.

"Water Gun." The turtle stopped spinning just as fast as he started and flipped over so his back was over the ground. He took careful aim and fired a direct hit onto Flint.

'_Shit! How did Genbu get so accurate over just a few days?_' Tangi pulled out his PokéDex and aimed it at Genbu; causing a health bar to appear. And next to it was his level.

Genbu/WARTORTLE Lv.25 HP: 100%

Tangi's eyes widen. '_He's got more than ten levels on us…_' He looked over at Hazru. '_How the hell did he train him to be that high in two days?_' Tangi's mind was racing slightly. How was he going to compete with an opposing element-based Pokémon with ten levels on him? '_Wait wait. Flint beat Fenrir at a far lower level._' He nodded to himself after getting his confidence back. He looked back at the field where Flint was already launching Ember attacks at Genbu.

'_Why is that newt picking his own commands? Is he that under trained? Or…_' Hazru stared dully onto the field. The second Genbu was done drenching the Charmander with the Water Gun attack he began to counter with Ember. Though, from what Hazru noticed, he was using it as a defensive maneuver rather than an offensive one. '_He's stalling until his trainer thinks of some orders. Maybe he isn't as wild as I thought._'

"Flint, Fire Fang!" Flint let off one last Ember at the ground near Genbu to kick up some dirt then charged headlong into the dust cloud, biting down onto the turtle's arm. Genbu cringed slightly, but his naturally damp skin kept the attack from doing too much damage. He primed a Water Gun and was about to let if off when suddenly the newt did a forward flip while holding him; tossing him upon his feet touching the ground. "Ember!" Flint let off a barrage of flames again onto the now vulnerable 'mon.

"Rapid Spin." Genbu did as instructed; withdrawing into his shell and plunged straight towards the source of the attacks; knocking Flint off his feet and onto the ground. Genbu landed and walked over to his opponent.

"Flint!" Tangi stood there at his "designated area", shouting towards his 'mon. Flint began to push himself up when the next order came from Hazru.

"Mega Kick." Like every good Pokémon does, he listened to his trainer; kicking Flint in the rib cage and sending him flying for three feet. It might have been more if the Pokécenter building wasn't in the way to stop him.

"That's dirty play Hazru! Even for you!" Tangi was getting ready to call a time out when Hazru called out his next attack; effectively overriding the would-be Time Out.

"Hydro Cannon." Genbu started to charge the water up at his mouth while Flint struggled to recover.

"Flint; get out of there! Now!" He tried to push himself up but kept stumbling. Genbu was about to fire.

'_Shit…_' Flint could only manage to roll away from the building to prevent it from being damaged any further. The Hydro Cannon was let lose; sending Flint into the bench outside of the 'center. When the assault stopped, Flint flopped down onto the ground. Tangi and Hazru waited to see what Tank would declare.

"… Flint is unable to batt-" he began, but was interrupted by the sound of rubble being pushed to the side. Flint managed to stand up again. Tank looked over at Tangi for the verdict now.

"Something's wrong with him," was all Tangi could say; even then it was in a whisper. Flint stood there not like he was able to still battle, but more like something being forced to battle despite his current condition. He was bleeding somewhere on his forehead, he was leaning more on his right leg than the left and his right arm was dangling as if it was broken. Both eyes closed, Flint continued to breath heavily.

"Hell of a fighter you have Tangi. I'll give ya that." Tangi looked over at Hazru who was staring with eyes open wide; not shocked but rather in an amused expression. "Referee never called him unable to battle, so an attack is allowed."

Tangi jumped. "You wouldn't!" Hazru grinned at him.

"Rules are rules. I can still attack." He turned towards Genbu before Tangi could shout back. "Give him another Mega Kick." Genbu hesitated at first but obeyed his trainer. He ran towards Flint, priming the kick.

"STOP IT!" Tangi shouted. He bolted towards his Pokémon to try and grab him but he knew he wouldn't make it in time. Genbu was less than a foot away and was lifting his leg to attack. But, as the kick was about to land, Flint grabbed it with his good arm. Everyone froze. Flint turned his head towards Genbu, eyes still closed. At least, for that moment…

~'_Damn it…'_ Flint had thought to himself. He could still feel the chill of the water hitting him as he laid under the rubble of what was once able to be called a bench. '_Damn it… I said it wasn't going to be a repeat… Damn it… Damn it… Damn it…!"_

"Hehhehheh…" he heard coming from somewhere. Flint wasn't sure where, but it was close…

'_Like its right next to me…'_

"How about in you?" Flint jumped. "Now now, don't be frightened." He opened his eyes and found himself not under the bits of wood and metal… But somewhere dark… Dark and cold. "Come now, it's not -that- cold!"

'_Who…_'

"Someone you're not ready to meet. To answer your question. Rather, how about we answer my question. Why are you losing?" Flint stayed silent. "I think we both know why; you're not strong. Not now at least… Or maybe you're holding back?"

'… _I was told I'm dangerous.'_ Flint admitted shamefully.

"Dangerous? Let me ask you something; is it more dangerous to have power or to be powerless?" He couldn't think of an answer. "Really, the answer is both. However, if you have power to control your power… There's nothing dangerous about it! And I can give that to you…"

'_How?_' Flint wasn't sure who or what he was talking to, nor the reason why he was even answering. He couldn't even see what he was talking to… But for some reason, he felt it was smiling now.

"Well, you can only get if over time safely. However… Would you like a taste of just what you're capable of?" Whatever it was, it was sounding more and more pleased as the conversation carried on. Flint couldn't decide. He felt it was wrong and that he shouldn't… But then one sentence changed his mind. "Don't you want to make Tangi happy by being strong?" Flint jerked slightly; or at least felt like he did. Of course he wanted to make his friend happy… But he was scared of what would happen. Then he felt more ashamed of himself.

'_Why am I letting fear stop me from keeping Tangi happy…?_' he thought to himself. A few more seconds of thinking and he spoke. '_Alright. Do it.'_ Again, Flint felt like the thing was smiling.

"Very well. Just know the 'full taste' only stops when you want it to. Though it might be hard even then… Hehhehheh…" And the voice faded into the back of his mind; replaced by a sudden surge. ~

"Tangi…" Tank spoke up.

"Yea… I think he's evolving." Flint had started to glow a few seconds ago. His outside form was defiantly changing; a single horn was forming on his head. Both his arms were growing longer while still holding Genbu's leg in place. Though… Tangi still felt horrified. '_This is natural for Pokémon… To evolve in a crisis. But… Why does it feel wrong?_' He snapped back into reality in time to see the final product. There was Flint, standing tall, as a Charmeleon. His yellow skin still carried over though. And eyes still closed. '_How did he evolve at Lv.15 though? Most trainers report it at Lv.16._' Tangi pointed his Pokédex at Flint, input the commands and waited for the load screen to finish. When it did, Tangi dropped his 'Dex. Hazru looked over from the Pokémon. "That CAN'T be… That's impossible…"

Hazru didn't get why Tangi had panic behind his voice. His Charmander just evolved and made an opening for victory. '_So why does he look like he saw a murder?_' He picked out his own Pokédex and aimed it at the Pokémon.

Genbu/WARTORTLE Lv.25 45%

Flint/CHARMELEON Lv.25 100%

Hazru nearly dropped his Pokédex. "How…" '_How did that newt jump ten levels just by evolving!?_'

"Char…" Both trainers looked over at Flint and Genbu. The turtle was trying to shake his leg free from the grip of his opponent to no avail. Flint pulled the turtle closer and let out a burst of flames centered on Genbu. He span around while still spewing the flames and smashed his target into the rubble then tossed him back at his trainer without opening his eyes to target.

'_Too many to be an Ember… Flamethrower perhaps?_' Tangi grabbed his 'Dex again and pointed at Flint. Sure enough, Flamethrower was listed. Though something was strange…

Flint/CHARMELEON Lv.26 HP: 100%

Flamethrower ???? ???? Blast Burn Fire Fang

'_None of his other moves are showing; save Blast Burn and Fire Fang. Leer and Ember are gone…_' These were brand new Pokédex's… So how was it that it was malfunctioning? Tangi looked up again at Flint.

Flint started shaking; holding his paws in front of his face. Though he wasn't just shaking; he was chuckling. "Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch…" He raised his head and howled at the sky. "CHAR-AR-AR-AR-AR-AR!" Tangi, Tank, Hazru and Genbu looked at him. Unsure what to do except for stare. His arms dropped to his sides and he lowered his head, sighing. '_So this is power…_' He raised his head and turned it towards Genbu. Finally opening his eyes, all of them began to sweat. He had no pupils; just pure white eyes; much like a shark as it's biting down on its prey…

Suddenly he lunged at Genbu. Right arm raised, his claw began to glow. "Metal Claw…" Tangi said. Sure enough, it showed up on his list of moves. '_So what's the other?_' For now all Flint was doing was slashing Metal Claw towards Genbu, who had no choice but to start to back off.

"Hey!" Tangi jerked and looked at Hazru. "He's your 'mon! Control him!" This added onto the mountain of worry Tangi had for Flint didn't help is anger.

"Dumbass! Stop acting like Flint's some robot machine! He's a living creature!"

"You sure about that machine bit?" Hazru stared angrily at Flint. "He's acting like a natural killer." Tangi shook.

'_He's right; Flint is acting like some kind of killing machine…_' he thought while looking out to the field. '_Maybe I should try orders…_' "Flint, stop it!" He kept up his frenzy of attacks. "Flint, stop it! Now!" No good. Tangi grabbed Flint's ball. "Return!" He waited, but no beam shot out of the Pokéball. "Return! Return! RETURN!" Nothing.

"Tch, useless." Hazru muttered. "Genbu, Rapid Spin!" The Wartortle withdrew into his shell and started to spin, but Flint finally landed his Metal Claw attack; knocking the shell into the ground and bouncing it into the air from the shear force behind the blow. Genbu had no choice but to pop out again and, when he opened his eyes, Flint was above him in mid air with fire building around his mouth. Hazru shouted his order; "Water Gun!"

Genbu let out the Water Gun just in time to deadlock the Flamethrower. With steam surrounding him though, he wasn't able to block Flint's claws from wrapping around his throat. Flint pulled Genbu's face closer to his own; staring at him with lifeless eyes. Genbu was gasping for breath when Flint finally spun around in mid air and threw him into the ground, followed by a Blast Burn. Hazru stared with disbelief in his eyes.

'_How…_' He turned to Tangi who wore the same expression as him. "Happy Tangi?!" Tangi turned towards him. "You obviously wanted this for him to turn out like this; a freaking monster!" Tangi's eyes went wider.

'_Did I cause it? Is it my fault?_' His mind was racing for answers, but not for long. Flint had picked up Genbu and tossed him five feet ahead of Tangi's left side. Flint started walking forward; claw glowing a light blue. The Pokédex started to beep. He pulled it out and the last move was added; Dragon Claw. '_With his strength right now… He could punch right through that shell._' Tangi looked over at Genbu, then Flint. Flint was maybe six steps away if that… Tangi could make it.

He bolted onto the field; darting towards the Wartortle. Flint kept his pace and reached the turtle. Hazru started to run towards him too but Flint already had his claw raised above Genbu. He was going to punch right through the shell… Killing him. "Char…" Flint growled slightly; grinning like a mad man with a new set of knifes. He thrusted his claws forward and Genbu closed his eyes.

-Shunk!-

Flint stood there with the same expression he wore the whole past five minutes… But suddenly it dropped. And his pupils' returned dilated… Then to normal. Genbu opened his eyes to see that he was indeed alive and not injured any further, though he saw blood. He looked up though and saw why.

"Hey," Tangi said. "Finally awake are we?" He smiled stupidly at Flint whose eyes were widening from terror. His claws had stabbed through something alright; Tangi's right forearm.

Footnotes: HA! THAT'S RIGHT! I'm ending this chapter RIGHT HERE! BWAHAHAH! I'm so evil. ~whistle~ And I know last chapter I said I'd have the gym match but you know… It's better this way. :p See you all next chapter!

Chapter preview: The rematch is over, declared a draw due to… "Uncontrollable events." Tangi's arm is operated on while his Pokémon sit in the waiting room. What does Fenrir have in store for Flint? And will Tangi continue with his plans to travel or will these events lead to more than one scar?


	7. Scars

A/N: So I felt SO bad about cutting off chapter 6 at such a climatic part (hey, it was climatic to me) that I decided to write chapter 7 now! And ugh… Did I have to research ... I figured the forearm was a good place for an injury; not thought of as fatal but still a wound that'd be unwanted. No one wants muscles cut up. Well, I did some looking around for more info on the muscles and arteries in the arm. BOY was there more than I thought lol… One part in here is a conversation between Fenrir and Flint. Now, I know Fenrir is the only "educated" Pokémon on the rooster, but I want this part to be understood as Flint talking as a normal Charmeleon and Fenrir talking how he talks to everyone now. Flint is talking "Charmeleon char char." but I'm typing it as English. Also, there is slight throwing-up during this. It's not descriptively disgusting, but I don't know how weak people's stomachs are. (Trust me; it is not descriptive at all.) Anyway, that is all from me. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7: Scars

Nurse Joy finally walked out of the back room where she was nursing some Pokémon to the main entrance of the center. She pulled off her last rubber glove and looked up towards the double-doors. All the trainers in the area were looking outside; some with an expression of disgust. The younger trainers were looking out with faces as white as the pale-colored moon. One of the girls was even leaning over a trashcan with a young man patting her back. Nurse Joy looked around once more, and spoke up to the masses. "What going on in here?" A few trainers turned to her, but then right back to the windows.

"It's not what's going on in here," an older trainer said in a horsed voice. He covered his mouth and swallowed as much of his own saliva as he could to rewet his throat. Nurse Joy turned to him as he continued, "It's what's going on out there…" She stared at him with a frightened and questioning look for a moment. She turned towards the doors; paused for a moment, then proceeded towards them. She thought it'd be best if she just opened the doors rather than peeked first. Her arms mid push, she stopped. After a few seconds of gathering her courage, she mustered the nerve to push the door open.

"Finally woke up I see." She looked over at the source and covered her mouth to muffle a gasp of fright. There was a boy wearing a brown-orange shirt and shorts, kneeling over a Wartortle and his right arm extended over it. A yellow tinted Charmeleon stood in front of the two; bearing a face that she thought matched her own terror-filled expression. What was causing the fright in her was the fact that the Charmeleon had stuck his right claws through the arm of the boy. Two other boys suddenly ran into the picture; snapping her back into reality.

Flint continued to stare at what he had done; his own claws had impaled Tangi's right forearm. Blood flowed out from both where the claws entered and exited. He could feel Tangi's muscles contract around his claws. He continued to stare as Genbu crawled out from between them… Staring was all he knew how to do now. Staring and feeling the blood. He started breathing faster out of terror. '_What did I do…? What did I do?!_' His lips curled and his jaw dropped slightly, his whole body shaking. He hurt Tangi… His friend… The first human he could care for because he wanted to; not because he took care of him or feed him. Oak did the same thing. No, Tangi was kind to him without even knowing him. That's why he cared. And he just attacked him… Hurt him.

"Char… Char… Char," he tried to say something but it came out in hiccups. His whole body continued to shake. Tears began to form at his eyes, but he didn't have to right to cry. Why should he cry when he was the one that caused what happened to happen? His shaking started to pick up to a faster pace. His eyes becoming more watery, he kept hiccupping trying to hold them back. "Char… Char…!" Then, he felt a hand on his back. Tangi had wrapped his left arm behind him without him noticing and pulled him as close to his body as he could.

"Idiot," Tangi muttered. "Didn't I tell you it's okay to cry?" Flint's shaking stopped. His eyes widened at what he just heard. He looked up at his trainer who was still wearing the stupid grin he had when the claws went through. His eyes scanned Tangi's face franticly. He finally stopped and scrunched his face up as tears began to fall.

Genbu walked the best he could over to his trainer. Hazru stood there alongside his 'mon and Tank; who had the same expression as him. In fact, anyone who witnessed what happened would have the same expression as them. However, he was confused. '_Just what the hell happened?_' The "perfect killing machine" stopped and turned into a sobbing child. All the times his name was called by his trainer, he didn't stop. Only when did he actually harm him did he become sane again. '_Shock?_' That had to be it; the shock of hurting his trainer snapped him back to his senses… Though that itself was too late.

Nurse Joy held her same position by the doors with her hands still cupped over her mouth. Only her eyes seemed to move at the time; looking from the two boys standing over the one on the ground, the now sobbing Charmeleon and lastly, to what she didn't take notice to before from the shock of the scene before her, the puddle of blood forming at the boy's knees. "All of you," she yelled over at them. They all jumped slightly and turned towards her. "I'll ask for the details later! For now, you two! Give me a hand!" She ran inside followed by Hazru and Tank. Tangi and Flint were left alone for the moment. He stared at the PokéCenter in a dream-like gaze.

'_Sure looks more hazy then I remember…_' was the last thought that passed through Tangi's head. He pasted over, body falling limp on top of Flint. Flint, in his panic to keep his trainer from falling, pulled his right claw out of his arm. More blood that had not spewed out began to do so. He yelped.

"Char!" He yelled toward the building. '_Someone has to help him! Anyone!_' He pushed Tangi over to lie on the ground and tried to press down on the wound. He didn't know what to do except that and cry as he yelled for help.

The doors opened again. Tank Hazru and Nurse Joy ran out with what looked like a folding bed to Flint. Nurse Joy moved over to the Flint. "Listen. I need you to move." Flint shook his head no and kept pushing down on the arm to try to stop the bleeding. She sighed. "Listen to me, please." He looked at her while continuing his efforts. "Right now all you're doing is forcing the blood to leave through the bottom of his arm; which is lying on the ground. It's going to get infected." Flint looked back at the injury he made, more panic appearing on his face, then to the nurse again. "I have to stop the bleeding first. Then we can take him in and get his arm fixed. Please, I need you to let go of him." She stared as coolly into Flint's eyes as possible. He looked down at Tangi once more, then reluctantly let go.

"Right, one of you holds the arm up. But put gloves on first!" She yelled at the end at Tank as he was about to do what she asked. She looked at the arm more closely. '_He'll be lucky if his arm even work after this…_' she thought. She could see the torn muscles in the holes.

Tank picked the arm up. She proceeded to pad it the best she could after wiping away any visible dirt from the arm. She reached into the box and pulled out a rubber tie. After tying it around just above the elbow in hopes to lessen the blood lost, she asked Tank and Hazru to lift him onto the medical bed and wheel him inside. Flint was going to help but Hazru stared at him coldly. "Don't you think you've done enough?" He turned away from him and lifted Tangi up. Flint stood in place, the blood now creeping towards his feet. He stared where Hazru's face was just at seconds ago, not sure how to react…

"Watch what you say Hazru, or I'll slug you this time around." Hazru looked over Tangi at Tank; the now peaceful boy was staring him down. Nurse Joy looked between the boys.

"I'm not sure what just happened, but save it. You still have to explain this bit to me still." They looked at her then back at each other and nodded. "Tank." He looked back at the nurse. "I'll assume that Charmeleon is his. Does he have others?" He nodded. "Take them off his belt then. They don't need to stay in there while I operate."

"Alright." Tank started to reach for them when the cart jerked slightly. Nurse Joy must have meant to grab them, as they were moving; and she was right in choosing so. The temporary wrap was already dripping blood. He grabbed them and pocketed them into his vest. "Flint, we have to go inside." Flint's eyes jumped slightly before turning towards Tank. He nodded and walked up behind the cart.

When Flint entered the PokéCenter, there were a few gasp from the trainers closest to the doors. He looked towards one of them and they nearly leapt out of their seat. Flint stood there a moment, staring hurtfully at the human when Tank called for him again.

"Ignore'em Flint. Come on." He grabbed the Charmeleon by the paw and pulled him along behind himself.

"Chansey!" The Chansey of the Oreburgh City 'Center walked up with a chart and handed it to Nurse Joy.

"Oh good." The chart contained medical information on Tangi, sent over from Sandgem Town's Nurse Joy. "At least we know his blood type now. Chansey," she started while pulling the medical bed behind her, "Go into the blood bank and get five bags of A+ blood. Human." Chansey nodded and walked off.

"He really needs five bags worth?" Hazru was gapping at the number. Nurse Joy turned to him slightly smiling.

"No, no. Two should be the most he would need. But just in case…" she finished with. Hazru thought she was going to say more, but she was most likely saying it to herself. Tank caught up to them finally with Flint near by as they neared the ER. Hazru and Tank stood to the side while Flint decided to try to run in behind. Nurse Joy turned to him and pointed at him. "No!" Flint stopped and looked up at her. "I'm sorry, but no one is allowed past here without my consent. Wait here."

'_Wait? She wants me to wait?_' Flint couldn't even begin imagining how he was supposed to wait like some obedient dog. "Charmel-"

"Don't argue with me!" She glared towards him making him jump slightly. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Please wait."

Thirty minutes passed, but to Flint, it seemed like thirty hours. Every time he looked at the light above the door, it was still on. Then he would look down at the floor and, as soon as he looked at it, he went back to watching the light. Tank had let Fenrir and Nidhogg out earlier. Nidhogg was asleep on the bench with Eve while Fenrir and Tank were outside of the waiting room talking. "Probably about me…" Flint muttered to himself in his native tongue. Every other time he went to look at the light above the ER, he'd catch a glimpse of Fenrir looking at him from the corner of his eye. He looked at the clock again. "Thirty-two minutes…" Flint sighed. '_Why am I even still here? They should have called the Pokémon control center on me or something._' The door to the hallway opened.

"Hey Flint." Tank walked in with Fenrir walking behind. Flint nodded at them and went back to watching the light. Tank looked at Fenrir, who nodded at him in return. He walked over, picked Eve and Nidhogg up, and carried them to the door. "Remember Fenrir, he didn't-"

"I know." Fenrir said with his eyes closed. Flint looked back and forth between the two until Tank walked out. He blinked a few times and turned to Fenrir. -BAM-

Flint was kicked off the ground and into the nearest wall in the waiting room, bounced off it and landed on his stomach on the back of a chair. He coughed and slipped forward onto the seat of the chair. He coughed a few more times before his head was lifted up by his horn. Flint opened his eyes and looked straight into Fenrir's. "Just what the hell happened? Explain it all to me or I'll beat it out of you." Flint eyes turned into the shocked state as earlier when the thought of explaining came into mind. He clutched his upper and lower jaw tight and looked away from the Lucario. Fenrir sighed. "Fine then." -BAM-

Fenrir tossed Flint by his horn into a bookshelf on the opposite wall. He fell to the floor and became buried by the books from it. Fenrir walked over to the pile and found Flint's horn without digging around for it. He pulled the lizard Pokémon up by it and held his face in front of his own. "Tell me or I keep at it."

"…"

Fenrir raised a brow. "What?"

"I said," Flint began, "That this is nothing compared to what Tangi went through." He opened his eyes halfway, not staring so much at Fenrir than he was staring off into the memories of the night. Fenrir's patience was running slim.

"Tell me what happened." Flint glared at him; his pupils dilated again.

"You mean to tell me that human out there didn't tell you everything already?!" He couldn't help but bare his fangs at Fenrir. His anger was like nothing he ever felt when he was a Charmander. -BAM-

Fenrir pumped a fist full of Aura into Flint's gut. His eyes widening, Flint was let go of and dropped to the ground. He tried to get on all fours but a sudden urge to throw up came over him. He coughed and gagged a few times before looking up at Fenrir again. "Bastard…" Another palm of Aura to his back and he was sent over bored; vomiting on the floor. When he was finished coughing Flint pushed himself up the best he could, but Fenrir grabbed him by the shoulder. He flinched but nothing happened.

"I heard Tank's side of the story. That was it," Fenrir said with a sigh. He then picked up Flint from under his arms and walked him over to the bench Nidhogg and Eve were asleep at. Flint took a few breaths and wiped his mouth as he looked up at the Lucario. "I want to hear your side. That's all."

"… There isn't one." Flint whispered. Fenrir raised a brow again, and then lowered himself to be at eye level with Flint.

"Explain." Flint looked around the room slightly; just to escape the gaze of Fenrir even for a moment's time. Then he let out a sigh.

"All I can remember… Is being knocked into the bench outside. After that…" Flint eyes reverted back as he raked his brain for some sort of way to answer without bring up the memories. "After that…" The more he thought on it the more he started to cry again. He looked down at the floor. Fenrir could feel him shaking. He started to sob, taking a few gasp here and there before finally answering. "After th-that… I lo-looked like th-this and… And…" Flint couldn't hold back anymore. He started to cry. He cried and cursed himself for doing so. Fenrir stared deeply at him as he did so. "And my claws were in his arm!" Flint managed to shout. He went on crying and kept wiping his eyes of tears. Fenrir let go of him and let him see to his tears. He stared deeply still at Flint, looking up and down one last time. Sighing, he walked to the door.

"That's all I wanted." He looked to his right and watched Flint for a few more seconds before turning back to the door. "I'm sorry." He closed his eyes and walked out of the room to leave Flint to cry alone. He flopped to his side and cried as such.

Nurse Joy was baffled. If the Charmeleon was indeed in a blinded rage, then… '_Then how did it completely miss the arteries?_' The muscles were torn, yes. However, none of the arteries were damaged. '_That isn't even medically possible,_' she thought to herself. '_If the only thing damage was the flesh and the flexor muscles… Those can be repaired. I was certain at least on major artery was cut… But it wasn't._' On the bright side, he'd be able to keep his arm. Just how much use he could get out of it was in question. Nurse Joy looked up at the clock. Nearly an hour now has she been going at this.

Flint's crying finally came to a stop. He just lay on the bench wishing nothing but for it all to be a dream. Of course, he knew that couldn't be. '_Life's too cruel for that to be true._' He looked up at the clock the best he could. '_How long has it been since they took Tangi?_' He stared lifelessly at the clock. Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock-Tick-Click. '_Click?_' He looked towards the door. There in the doorway stood Hazru.

"Damn, what did you do in here?" He looked around and saw the books knocked on the floor and the puddle of Flint's vomit. "What, did you get sick?" Flint looked at him, and then directed his eyes back at the clock opposite of him from the bench. Hazru sighed. "I knew you were wild… Tonight just proved it." Flint's eyes changed. "Guess the first clue should have been back at the lab, but…" Hazru stopped. Flint had raised his tail into the air as he stayed on his side and hung it over an end table there. He then smacked it down as hard as he could onto it; causing the legs to crack in half. The table toppled over next to Hazru's feet. He looked over at the Pokémon who looked back with glaring eyes.

"Charmeleon…" Flint snarled at him. Hazru stared at him. Then suddenly, he started laughing. Flint's eyes went back to normal as he blinked and started widely at the human.

"You know, I think you're better this way." Flint pushed himself up onto one elbow and raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed a bit more before stopping and looking back at Flint. "I talked with Tank… He was right," he said raising his arms. "I shouldn't have said anything to you outside." Flint looked at the ground and thought back to it. "The fact Tangi protected Genbu, even though he isn't his Pokémon… I respect him for that. Just don't go telling him that, okay?" Hazru looked at Flint for some kind of response but received none. "Well. That was all I had to say." He headed to the door.

'_Good. The less I hear from you the better…_' Flint turned toward the clocked to be interrupted again.

"Don't let this hold you two back. Alright?" Hazru left the room. Flint looked to where he was standing and stared for a while before going back to the clock once again. Hour and twenty minutes. Still no change…

"Flint… Flint…?" A woman's voice was talking to him. Flint opened his eyes slightly and then the dropped shut again. "Poor thing must be exhausted… Are you sure we shouldn't let him sleep?"

"As depressed as he's been? Nope." Something grabbed him by the horn, causing a sudden memory of the night to return to him.

'_Oh shi-_'-BAM-

Flint's face met the wall across the room. Nurse Joy stood there gawking at what just took place. Fenrir "dusted" off his paws and walked over to the lizard. When he was mere inches away from grabbing hold of it, Flint shot up from the floor and put his back to the wall.

"STOP THROWING ME INTO SHIT!" Flint howled at Fenrir. Nurse Joy had to cover her ears since all she heard was a loud howl.

"Oh good. You're awake." Fenrir crossed his arms. "Napped well?"

"Napped?" They stared at him for a while until his heart sunk. "I fell asleep…?"

"That's normally what nap means." Flint smacked his face with both paws; hating himself for ever letting sleep enter his mind. "Stop sulking." Flint looked up and finally took notice of the nurse in the room.

"Wait… If she's in here, who's with Tangi?!" Flint shot up from his spot on the floor. "She's done then?!" He started to make for the door when Fenrir, yet again, grabbed him by the horn.

"Hm, I could get use to this. Makes handling you so much easier," he finished with a chuckle. Flint started to swing at Fenrir, but he had shorter arms then his captor. "Just hold on. She has something to tell you first."

"I don't care! She can tell me when we're in Tangi's room, right?!" He grabbed Fenrir's arm and removed it from his horn. He turned towards Nurse Joy with a wide smile on his face… One that soon faded from seeing the expression on her face.

"Flint, honey…" she started. She walked over to him and kneeled down to his eye level. "Flint, your trainer's operation went well. There was no major damage done to the arteries. Meaning the blood flow in his arm is normal again." Flint started to smile again when she stopped him. "But, and I'm sorry. I really am…" He froze in terror of the news that might follow. "He'll only have minimal use of his right arm now; if that. The muscles should heal if not stressed too much, but…" he cut her off by smacking her arm off him and running towards the door. She stood up and looked at where he was standing. "He didn't let me finish…"

"I'm sorry. He's just worried." Fenrir said to her. She nodded… Then suddenly gasped. "What?"

"Does he even know which room Tangi's in?" Fenrir blinked a few times and sighed.

"I'll go get him…"

"Ugh this is boring…" Tangi lay in bed with his right arm strapped down in order for him not to move it. "Wish I had a magazine or something…" He looked around the room. It has been about ten minutes since he woke up. He got that he was in the PokéCenter and that his arm was fixed up, but why did it have to be strapped down? "It's not like I planned to do anything with it… Yet." He wondered how well he could throw a Pokéball now. *Knock Knock* Tangi stared at first then remembered he had to answer. "Oh, yea. Come in?" Nurse Joy walked in.

"Are you feeling well Tangi?" She walked over to check his IV bag and the straps on his arm.

"I'd be better if you didn't have to keep this bound down…" he said, nodding towards his arm. Nurse Joy smiled.

"I'm sorry, but you have to keep it still for a few days at the minimal." Tangi felt sick.

"… How long did you say?"

"A few days. Maybe three would be best." If Tangi was in the mood to appreciate irony, he would have at the fact that staying in bed for three days was making him sicker than when he saw his arm before surgery. "So, is there anything I can get you? Water? Food? Maybe a-"

"Flint." She looked up at Tangi. He was looking at the end of his bed as he said it. "If Flint is still awake, could I see him?" He turned to her in hope that he could win her over. She nodded.

"Visitors this late at night would normally be turned down, but very well." She walked out of the room and left the door open. Tangi looked over at what was hold it open and smiled.

"Heya Nidhogg!" The green Treecko beamed at his trainer and ran up the end of the bed. He was about ready to dive head first at Tangi, who was unable to defend himself from the 'attack', when something grabbed him.

"Don't Tackle people in hospital beds." Fenrir picked Nid up from his tail while the gecko flailed about. He looked over at Tangi and smiled. "Good thing you're up now." Tangi grinned back.

"Yea, well, Nurse Joy says I can't move for a few days. Guess you're stuck babysitting till then." Tangi laughed slighting and looked back at Fenrir, seeing a mortified expression fall upon him; making Tangi laugh harder. Soon Tank, Eve and Acuity walked in the room. They all greeted him and laughed a bit with him, but there was one thing that was worrying him. "Fenrir, you know where Flint is?" He nodded. "… Well?"

Fenrir sighed and walked out of the room. "Are you ready yet?" … "What do you mean no?" … "Ugh, you're such a pain." Suddenly there was growling coming from outside. Seconds later Fenrir walked in with Flint being dragged behind by his horn. "I really am liking this new evolution," he said with a mischievous grin on his face. He picked Flint up and dropped him on his face onto the floor on Tangi's left side. He growled into the floor but stopped when he heard Tangi laughing it up.

Flint pushed himself up onto his two legs and looked at Tangi. He was laughing… He was all right… He blinked a few times until his trainer turned to him. "I have to agree with Fenrir there Flint. I'm gonna have to say I'll like this new you too if you're eating face plants like me!" Flint stared at him as he laughed away.

'_He's okay… He's okay…_' His eyes started watering again. On sniff and Tangi stopped laughing.

"Oh no! Don't cry!" Flint looked at him and tried to hold the tears back. "Uh, Fenrir. Can you give me a hand?" Fenrir nodded and walked over to Flint, picked him up, and plopped him on the bed. Flint blinked a bit until Tangi wrapped his arm around him and pulled him closer to him. "Okay. Now you can cry if you want to." Flint looked up and Tangi was looking back at him smiling. Then switched to a stern voice, "But only if you have to! I don't wanna find out later you learned Fake Tears too!" and he finished with a smile.

Flint stared at him. "Charmeleon…" he sighed and wiped his eyes. He looked towards where everyone else had been but they were leaving; Tangi waving them good night. Flint looked over at Tangi's right arm and stared. Tangi took notice of this.

"It's okay." Flint looked up and then back down. "Hey." Tangi looked at down at him. "Seriously, listen to me." Flint looked back up slowly. "Now, Nurse Joy said she told everyone but you ran out on her before she finished…" Flint sighed mentally.

"Char…" he stared at Tangi's arm. He remembered she said he would only have minimal use of it…

"Now, I'm only going to have minimal use of it… What's that for?!" Flint dug his face into Tangi's side to try to avoid eye contact. "Jeez, no wonder she couldn't finish talking with you… You need to cheer up." Flint raised his head; eyes dilated.

"Charmeleon!" Tangi looked down at him and he stared back on near brink of crying. He growled a few more times the next minute… Although Tangi could not understand it, it sounded like an apology… He tried to stop him a few times but he kept growling and growling… That is until Tangi reached around with his left hand and help his mouth shut. "Mrr! Mrrr mrrr!"

"Finally! Jeez!" Tangi yawned. "If you're let me finish first…" He looked at Flint for an answer. He waited a bit then the Charmeleon nodded his head. "Good. Now, and don't go emo this time, I'll have minimal use of my arm." Flint proceeded to ignore the 'don't go emo' order. "But," he looked up at Tangi. "I should have full use back in a matter of weeks if I treat my arm right." Flint's eyes widened.

"Char?!" Tangi grinned at him and nodded. Flint looked down at the arm and Tangi again, and then did some half-hug.

"Hey, I thought Charmeleons were supposed to be more rebellious." Tangi laughed slightly but Flint just tightened his grip. "Hey, hey. I'm sorry. I know you feel bad about tonight…" Tangi did too for pushing Flint into that crazed mode. He felt responsible, and didn't want Flint hating himself because of him. "Flint…" Flint looked up at him. "Let's promise something. Promise me that the scat-to-be on my arm will be the only scar from tonight." He turned to Flint. "We can't let something like this hold us back." Flint looked down, staring at nothing particular. What Hazru said to him that night rang in his head. He nodded…

'_But I won't forget tonight._' He looked at Tangi. '_I'll make sure it never happens again. And that nothing hurts Tangi again…_'

"Good. " Tangi looked at the door. "Hey! I bet if we fall asleep fast enough, Nurse Joy won't be able to kick you out of the room!" Flint turned to Tangi who was beaming away with the stupid grin again. He smiled back and laid down with Tangi. Tangi reached over and pulled the lamp string on the table to his left; leaving Flint's flame to be the only light in the room.

Footnotes: Aww sappy ending. Yea I'm thinking I should possibly change the rating on this from T to M for the added language. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed chapter 7! Sorry it was length and I know I have a lot of work to do with my story typing but I hope it's getting a -little- better.

Preview: No preview! You get to be surprised about what the next one will be about


	8. Questions and Resolve

A/N: BAWLS! Put'em in your mouth! *cricket cricket* The drink people. Jeez…

Chapter 8: Questions and Resolve

Morning came to Oreburgh City. The town was starting to come alive again; people going to grab the paper, others going to greet their neighbors before going to where their day had in store for them. For most people though, they ended up right outside of the town's Pokémon Center. At first it was just a few people standing in front of it, but that soon turned into five. Then ten. Then twenty-five. It was nigh three in the afternoon when so many people were there that Nurse Joy had to call the local Officer Jenny to direct the people away. What was so interesting at the front of the 'Center? Simple; rumors of a Pokémon attacking a human had reached the ears of the towns people curiosity of trainers that were leaving town telling whoever they saw. As chatting ensued around the people, Officer Jenny turned on her siren to aware them of her presence.

"Alright folks," she yelled through her speaker on her bike. "I need everyone who doesn't have business inside the PokéCenter to please continue on their way." Some people spoke up in the crowds to one another but they all obeyed and headed off to their original destinations for the day. Sighing a breath of relief, she looked over to where the spot of interest was. "Looks like I'll need to file a report on this after all…" she said while scratching her head in response to the dried stain of blood on the ground.

"Thank you Officer Jenny for coming so quickly." Jenny turned around to face the Nurse Joy of the town. "I could have dismissed them myself, but I thought word would reach you sooner or later." Jenny nodded.

"You have the person who was attacked inside, correct?" Joy nodded. "And the people at the scene?" She nodded again.

"One of them is inside asleep in a room I gave him last night. The other however seemed to have left while I was operation on my patient." She placed her right hand on her cheek and rested her elbow in the palm of her left hand. "I do apologize for not asking him to stay around." The officer shook her head.

"No, no. One witness is enough. But…" she turned back to the blood stained ground, then back at Joy. "… Is the victim well enough to talk?" Nurse Joy nodded with a sigh. "Is there a problem?"

"Oh no, not a problem. It's just…" she trailed off as she started off at the distant clouds. Officer Jenny cocked her head at her in confusion.

"Got any fours?"

"Char." Flint shook his head no.

"Damn, I suck at this game! Why did I agree to this?" Tangi was already sitting up in bed with his legs folded in Indian style. Flint was sitting at the foot of the bed lightly laughing at his trainer. They'd been up for about an hour now after Nurse Joy came to release Tangi's arm from the strap; to check for any problems. She said that it would be okay to keep in a brace but that he couldn't turn it too much or too fast. Fenrir had walked in half an hour ago and dropped off a deck of cards for the two while he read one of the books he found in the waiting room. Nidhogg was somewhere in the room; probably waiting to scare the next person that walked into the room.

"Ugh. I wish you would have picked a game I could actually win at," Tangi jokingly sobbed. He was holding his hand in his right hand, since he couldn't it move it much anyway, and was drawing cards with his left. Surprisingly, his fingers could still form a fist; granted that he could only keep them like that for a few seconds. Still, holding cards was fine. He had to readjust his hand every now and then but beside that, all was well. Flint looked at his hand. He then thumped his tail five times; asking if Tangi had any fives. He looked at his hand and irked slightly before sighing. "Yea, three of them…" He handed Flint the cards.

Flint couldn't talk like Fenrir could but Tangi decided on how he could still play. Thumping his tail one to ten times asked him if he had any cards of that number; aces being one. If he held up one claw it was asking for a Jack. Two claws were for Queens and three meant Kings. Flint thumped his tail again for six times and sure enough Tangi had those too. "It's like you can read my min-" he stopped. He turned around to look behind him the best he could and finally realized, after six losses, that there was a mirror behind him. He turned around at full throttle at the lizard. "You cheat! You've been using the mirror!" Flint blinked a few times at him before cocking his head to the side and sticking his tongue out at Tangi. "Gah!" He tried to swing his hand at Flint but couldn't reach from where he was. Flint smiled and laughed away at this.

"Yea, laugh while you can you filthy litt- Whoa!" It an attempt to lunge himself forward at the 'Mon he started to tip off the bed. Flint leapt off the bed onto the floor from his sitting position and grabbed Tangi before he toppled over. He pushed him back up and the only thing Tangi's head ended up hitting was his pillow. "Huh." He sat back up and looked at the Charmeleon. "Nice speed." Flint smiled and hopped back in bed but turned himself so he couldn't look at the mirror.

"Charmeleon?" he said, cocking his head again at his trainer? Tangi took it as him asking "Are you okay now?" He nodded and Flint smiled again. He picked up the cards and handed them to Tangi for him to shuffle.

"Okay, okay. But this time we're playing-" *knock knock* He looked at the door. "Yes?" Nurse Joy walked in, followed by an Officer Jenny. Tangi's heart sank. Flint looked between him and the two women. Jenny took her cap off.

"Good morning Mr. Tangi. I heard about your 'incident' last night, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you some questions." He stared at her; not angry at her, no. She was just doing her job. But he was still upset that he had to fill out some report. He closed his eyes and started shuffling the best he could.

"There's nothing really to it. The battle got out of hand and I decided to intervene." He tried to deal Flint his card first but she grabbed his hand. Tangi looked up at her.

"The way I hear it," she paused and looked down at Flint, "Is that this Pokémon here attacked you." That feeling came over him again; that sick feeling and the memory of what Tangi's arm felt like to his claws. How it felt to him as the muscles pushed down on them. His right paw shivered. Jenny turned to Joy. "If this was the one that hurt this boy, why did you let him stay in here?" She looked at the officer and smiled.

"Well, he fell asleep in here with Tangi. They both went through so much last night that they clonked out before I could come back. And it'd have been rude to wake them." Jenny sighed and grabbed Nurse Joy by the hand and walked her outside of the room. Tangi stayed still for a minute in hopes of hearing what they were talking about outside. He looked over at Flint and patted him on the head.

"Hey, I told you last night to cheer up." Flint looked at him and lightly smiled, but then he frowned again. Tangi sighed. "Fine then. I have no choice." He picked up the deck of cards again…

"You knew that was the Pokémon that turned savage on him and you just thought it'd be rude to wake it up?!" Jenny was scolding the nurse. "I'm sorry, but you put your patient at risk! And for what reason? That you thought it'd be rude?!" Nurse Joy pulled her hand away from Jenny.

"What happened last night was an honest accident. No one had control of what happened. If you don't believe me, ask the other boy that's still here." They stared at each other. "You saw how his Charmeleon was before we entered. They were laughing and playing together. Hell, he even protected his trainer from falling over!" She gasped and cupped her hands over her mouth having just realized she said 'hell'. Jenny laughed slightly.

"… I need more proof that it was indeed an accident before I can decide on a course of action. You do understand that, yes?" Joy nodded. She was about to speak up when Jenny stopped her. "I'll decide for myself if the Charmeleon is safe or not. For now let's just-"

"FIFTY-TWO DIVINE PUNISHMENTS!!!!!"

"CHARMEL-UMPH!" Both Jenny and Joy stared at each other; not sure how to take what they just heard. They both turned to the door and opened it. Peeking inside, they saw what unfolded.

Tangi was on the bed laughing and pointing with his good arm at the floor. Fenrir held one paw over his eyes as if in shame to be seen with the people in the room. Nidhogg finally popped out of his hiding spot from inside a cabinet to see what the noise was only to join Tangi in the laughing. Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy looked down at the floor when Tangi was pointing to. Flint laid on his back seeming to have fallen off the bed and was surrounded by playing cards. He shot up onto his hind legs as fast as he had done before. "Charmeleon char charmelon!!" He shook his paw at Tangi who just started laughing harder. He blinked a few times and started laughing himself.

Jenny just stared. Flint, a Charmeleon, had just been "assaulted". The most common response for his evolution would be to attack back. But he was laughing back. He was smiling at the fact that he was just mocked. "See?" Joy whispered. "Do you think a Pokémon with that high of a connection to his trainer would harm him on purpose?" Jenny stared a while more at them and nodded.

"No, I guess you're right…" She looked back up. Fenrir removed his paw and saw the two women standing at the door. He sighed, closed his book and stood up. He walked over to Tangi first and smacked him with his book. Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny's jaws dropped. Flint yelped and ran over to Tangi. Nidhogg was still laughing when Fenrir cleared his throat. He opened his watery eyes and looked at the now knocked out Tangi.

"There are women in the room now. Show some composure young one." He stared coldly at the grass-type who yelped and closed the cabinet door. Fenrir sighed and turned to the two adults at the door. "I'm sorry I didn't take notice of you two there sooner or I would have stopped them before now."

"N-no. It's fine." Jenny replied nervously. Nurse Joy ran over to Tangi to check for a head injury as Flint waved his paws franticly at the side of the bed saying something that must have been an apology. Fenrir walked over to the door and passed the officer.

"He really didn't mean to harm Tangi." Jenny turned to the passing Lucario. "And you can tell… He's different than what's expected of his species; more than just skin color." He started to walk down the hallway to the waiting room from last night to return the book. "Also, I think everyone deserves a second chance… Tangi gave me mine." He turned to Jenny as he said this; eyes hazed over with the memories of his old trainer.

"… Alright." She nodded at Fenrir. He nodded back, and then disappeared into the room. She sighed to herself and turned towards Tangi. "_Seems to me this kid attracts problems._" She shrugged and entered the room; closing the door behind her.

Twenty minutes passed after Officer Jenny started her questioning. Tangi told her all he could' leaving out the "berserk" trance Flint went into as best as he could. '_I can't tell her all of it, but I have to tell her some of it._' He managed to get her to go along with the story that before evolving, Flint was sent first into a building then into the bench outside. With the sudden change in his appearance and his mental state on top of the possible head traumas, it was quite possible for Flint to have lost control. Nurse Joy supported this fact; agreeing with it only because it was possible. Officer Jenny finished jolting down the last bits of information and stood up. "Thank you for your time Tangi. I do hope you have a speedy recovery."

"Um, officer?" She turned to Tangi. "What's your conclusion?" Flint had jumped onto the bed and decided to rest on Tangi's left side. His arm was wrapped around him and he tightened the grip he had on him. She sighed and looked at her notes.

"From what you told me, it's just a case of 'evolution gone bad.'" Jenny turned to him and smiled before finishing, "Don't worry. This only goes into the files here." Tangi sighed out of relief. "What's that for?" He jumped a bit.

"I just don't want my mother finding out is all," he lied nervously. "She's so over protective that if she caught wind of it she'd have me come home." Officer Jenny giggled.

"Ah, I understand. Well, normally I would have to report to her, but you're sixteen. You're three years over the age limit of when your parents have custody of you if you're traveling." Tangi nodded to her and pulled Flint up towards him; a hard task since he seemed to have fell asleep during the questioning. Tangi himself was starting to feel tired. A yawn escaping him, Nurse Joy finally spoke up.

"Officer, if that's all you have to ask him," she said politely. Jenny nodded.

"Understood." She grabbed her cap and headed for the door. "Thank you again Tangi." He nodded to her and sank into his bed. She held the door open for Nurse Joy and walked down the hall with her.

"Thank you again Jenny." Nurse Joy had escorted Jenny to her motorbike.

"No, it's no problem at all Joy. I'll have a clean-up crew here for that," she said as she nodded towards the blood stains on the ground. She thanked her again and drove off into the evening. Joy looked at her watch. Nigh four o'clock. She walked back into her center to ready for any night time trainers that might come.

The rest of the night passed without too many events. Nidhogg came out of the cabinet he snuck in and went over to Tangi's bed to fall asleep there. Flint and Tangi were so deep into sleep that not even a stampede would wake them it seemed. Fenrir had reentered the room and left each time when he needed to get a new book and finished his; not really sleeping. Tank left that night to train with his Pokémon. All in all, a nice, relaxing day…

Nine o'clock at night. Flint finally opened his eyes and sat up. He looked Tangi over then turned to Fenrir. "You're still awake?"

"I was about to go to sleep after this book." Fenrir flipped to the last page and put it down after seconds of reading. Flint looked at the pile he made.

"How many of those did you read?" Fenrir took his time answering this.

"I stopped counting after sixty-seven." Flint stared at him dumbfounded. "You seem like you have something else to ask." He blinked back to reality, and then turned back to Tangi.

"… During those games of… Goldfish, was it?" Fenrir nodded. "Right, Goldfish… I really just wanted to tell Tangi what I wanted… Not just thump my tail and hold my claws up," he finished while staring at his paws.

"Well… It's rare for a human to be able to fully understand a Pokémon." Fenrir laid back onto the two chairs in the room that he occupied all day. "The only way he could understand you fully is if you learned English…" He tilted his head to the Charmeleon; still staring at his paws.

"… Teach me." Flint looked over to Fenrir; making his eyes widen slightly. Flint's eyes had gone dilated… But then weren't black slits. They went red slits... "You can teach me, can't you?" Fenrir wasn't sure what to say.

"… Flint, have you looked into a mirror lately?" He shook his head no and turned towards the mirror over Tangi's bed.

"What?"

"Your eyes…"

"Oh. Sorry." He blinked and they went normal; making Fenrir even more surprised.

"You can control it now?" He nodded.

"Not fully… But I think I can turn it off and on… I don't know how or why, but if I just think of it, it happens…" Flint sighed. "Sorry, didn't mean to spook you." Fenrir chuckled.

"You thought that spooked me?" '_Did he not see his eyes changed color also? …_' Fenrir decided it best to leave alone for the moment. "Fine." They looked at each other. "I can try to teach you. But know that you won't be able to actually talk for maybe a three months time." Flint looked down at the end of the bed. "And it won't be easy."

"It's for him," he replied. He nodded towards Tangi. "I'll manage."

Footnote: Don't hate me! I thought it'd be kind of cool if Flint could talk too since he's the one that spends the most time with Tangi. I figured have this bit in here when it's sort of a climatic place in Flint's life at the moment; making the accident his resolve to try and communicate and connect with Tangi better. Also, Flint's eyes changed colors! Normally they're his blue eyes with black pupils. Before, when he went into the "rage" mode from his genetic inheritance from being a Shiny, they turned into narrow, black slits. Now, since he said he gained some control over it (he's not sure when. It was sometime after Flint's chat with Hazru in chapter 7.), they turned red. Why red? Well, you'll find on later on into the story.

Preview: Three more days passed before Tangi is cleared by Nurse Joy. Now his goal is to battle Roark. One problem; the gym leader isn't in his gym!


	9. Pep Talk

**A/N**: Ah another chapter under work. I actually like to type these beginning notes before the rest of the story. Kind of helps me get into the mood of writing. Same with jamming music. If really I need something to get me going I read my chapters that I posted again and the reviews. Also, thanks to you all for the watches and reviews! Really; it does make me happy this is being read. Yea, go ahead and call me girly or whatever! Also, about chapter 8... The store in town that sells Bawls was having a sale. I was happy. And I'm currently high on caffeine. So yea… This chapter will be a bit more random than past ones methinks. If not, my brain is broken…

Chapter 9: Pep talk

"Now remember, even though I said you could go without the brace, you have to keep it wrapped." Its day four since Tangi had his arm operated on due to Flint's rage during their last match with Hazru and he was finally being cleared. Hazru and Tank both already left town; Tank having left just yesterday. Nurse Joy, however, still took it upon herself to lecture him about proper ways to care for himself. Much like a mother leaving her child at school for the first day; how to behave and such. "Also, be sure to unwrap it and clean it since you'll be sweating a lot. And don't strain it or work it too much or your stitches will mean nothing!" Tangi had no choice but to nod to everything while he sat in his bed, waiting for her to leave so he could change. Which brought up the question…

"Nurse Joy, where are my clothes?" She looked at him like he had punched a baby. "What?"

"I'm standing here, explaining the importance of how to care for your arm and you ask for something as small as clothes!?" Tangi just stared at her.

"Well… I can't exactly use any of the things you told me while traveling if I can't get my clothes. I am not stepping out of this room in a hospital gown…" A moment of silenced pass before Joy caught on to the joke. They both had a small laughed before she cleared her throat.

"Well, there's something about that." He kept looking at her as she closed her eyes. "You see… I had to dispose of your shirts and the shorts you were wearing when I was working on your arm. They were beyond saving due to all the blood on them…" She opened her eyes to see him giving her the same expression he received less than a minute ago.

"That's a joke, right?" She shook her head no. Silence… "NO!" he shouted to the ceiling; causing her to jump. "I DO have to go outside in this hospital gown!" He placed his left arm in front of his eyes and began to 'sob' into it.

"Well, I did manage to get you a different outfit…" He looked up at her with eyes of hope; hope that was quickly replaced with fear.

"I pray to God you don't mean a nurse outfit…"

"What in the known world," she began to yell, "would give you that idea?!" He thought for a moment and shrugged. Sighing, Joy continued on. "I found a contact on your medical chart; your mother." Tangi's gut felt like it flipped over. "Don't worry; I called her after your interview with Officer Jenny. Now, another Nurse Joy would have told her but I did manage to keep tell her a different story."

"What did you tell her?" She smiled proudly to herself.

"I cleverly thought up the excuse that wild Venomoths had attacked you and ate your shirt to shreds and your pants were beyond saving! She said she'd send a new one and some spares right away!" She turned her back to Tangi and nodded to herself proudly for thinking of such a story. Tangi just stared at her dumbfounded.

'_I don't know what's more surprising,_' he thought to himself. '_That she used a crazy story like that or that my mother actually believed her…_' "So… Where are they?" Nurse Joy snapped out of her "moment of triumph" flashback and turned back around.

"Yes, they're right outside. I'll bring them in now." She walked to the door as he sighed; suddenly stopping. "Tangi." He looked over towards Joy. "Please remember to be careful. That's all I can say. You're very lucky to even have your arm still; not to mention it still functioning." One deep breath and she opened the door, grabbed the clothes off the chair outside the room and left it on one of the chairs inside. Closing the door, she waved to Tangi and walked off.

"… I know." He looked down at his now unwrapped arm. The three initial entry points were stitched closed, but they seemed like one wound closed in three spots. On his under forearm it looked the same but the scar there would be smaller than the top one. "I know." Tangi sighed, stood up and grabbed his clothes to change.

"Try saying 'are'. Like 'are you okay.'"

"Char… Ch… Cha…" Flint smacked himself out of frustration of his poor English skills. "Freaking hell… 'Are' is in my damn name and I can't even say that!" He reverted back to his native tongue as he swore himself out. Fenrir patted him on the shoulder.

"It's okay. The word 'car' is in my name but I couldn't say it for the life of me when I tried to learn." Due to Flint's resolve to try to communicate better with Tangi, Fenrir became stuck with instructor duties along with babysitting Nidhogg over the past few days. He looked over at Nidhogg who was being strangely well behaved today. The past few days he's been doing any prank he could think of; from drawing on the faces of people that were asleep to leaping at people to scare them. One prank, however, Fenrir gave him props for. It involved an elaborate use of the plants near the doors, string, and a voice recording of Flint growling (leading him to believe that Flint assisted; later confirming it by dangling him from the roof of the PokéCenter by his horn and receiving a confession.) But today Nidhogg had just been laying on the bench next to the two in the entrance hall waiting for Tangi. He turned back towards Flint who was still smacking and cursing himself. Fenrir stood up and kicked him upside the head onto his side.

"… Why do you keep doing that?"

"You're not a Charmander anymore. You're old enough to take a beating every now and then." Fenrir paused for a moment. "Plus I can't hit Tangi since he's still recovering." Flint sat up again.

"Then what about the other day with the book?" Fenrir smiled.

"I clearly did not hit him. I just provided the force behind the book for it to hit him." Flint sighed and looked at the hallway corner to see Nurse Joy emerge. She looked up from the floor towards them and smiled at the small group.

"He'll be here shortly; just getting changed." She walked off to the counter where Chansey was providing service for the incoming trainers. Flint felt scared.

"Hey Fenrir…" He turned to the lizard. "What if I mess up on this? Like I know I practiced it enough but what if I slip up?" He knew Flint meant his greeting to Tangi.

"Just remember how you said it the first time. You always said it perfectly fine." Which surprised Fenrir greatly. During the two days after Flint came to him for help with speaking English he managed to get those two words down perfectly. "Just relax okay?" He nodded.

"Treeeeecko!" Flint and Fenrir turned to where Nidhogg was sitting to see him missing. They looked around till Flint saw him running towards the hallway.

"Heheh. Heya Nid." Someone held his hand down, allowing Nidhogg to climb up it to their shoulder. Finally walking into sight, Tangi appeared in his new outfit. He wore dark navy jeans that seemed a size-too-big for him; his old tug belt around his waist. New shoes that were grey and black that looked to stay on via a strap on each one. His undershirt's base color was white with grey squares on the front; making it look like a checker board. There were also some black patterns that started from the left hip, went up to his left shoulder and stretched horizontally to his right shoulder. His top shirt was black, but it also had red and orange flames going across the bottom.

Flint stared at how 'cool' Tangi's new clothes looked. At least he thought they were…

"You really like to over dress, don't you?" Fenrir walked over to Tangi and handed him his pack.

"How is this over dressed," he answered back while taking the bag. "'sides, I didn't pick it. My mom just sent it." A smirk appeared on Fenrir's face.

"Aren't you a little old to be letting mommy dress you?"

"Try telling that to her," he replied as he scratched his head. Flint looked at Tangi's right arm. There was now a bandage wrap on it; knot tied around his middle finger and wrapped up past the elbow it seemed. He also noticed Tangi had managed to get his gloves on over the wrap. He walked over to his trainer and stopped a few feet away. Tangi turned his head to him. "So what have you three been up to when you weren't in the room, hm?" The stupid grin was across his face again.

"Charmeleon?" He smirked and shrugged his shoulders with his arms raised. Nidhogg laughed to himself behind his paws. Fenrir just sighed.

"Whatever. I expect compensation for the hell that one's put me through," he remarked while pointing at Nidhogg. Tangi looked at him. He jumped and tried to hide in his bag.

"Ahahah! Man, it's good to be up again!" Tangi stretched in place and let both arms flop to his side. "Right then. What do you guys think about going ahead and getting on with what we came here to do?" He, of course, meant the Gym Battle. Fenrir nodded, Nidhogg let out a cheerful cry. Tangi turned towards Flint for some kind of response. None came. He walked over, kneeled to eye level and put his hands on his shoulders. "Hey, you okay boy?" Flint just looked at the ground and fidgeted his claws together.

"Char… Mmm…" Flint turned his view away from Tangi towards Fenrir. He nodded to the Charmeleon. He turned back to Tangi, took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Tangi." Tangi's jaw dropped.

"What… When? How!?" He fell backwards onto the floor. Flint panicked and waved his arms around in the air and started to apologize in Charmeleon. Tangi stared before finally turning to Fenrir for answers.

"Don't look at me!" He raised his arms in the air and shrugged as he smirked at Tangi's shocked expression. "He just wanted something to surprise you with." Tangi turned to Flint with a new found feeling of excitement.

"Damn… You did surprise me, I'll give you that!" He raised his arm and patted Flint on the head; causing a smile to appear on his reptilian face. "Can you say anything else?" And the smile was gone again. Tangi got back up into a kneeling position. "Eh? What's wrong?"

"Unfortunately," Fenrir began, "Those are the only words he could learn in two days…" He nodded to Nidhogg who popped out of the bag and walked over to Tangi. Nidhogg leapt from behind and onto Flint's face; providing a distraction as Fenrir whispered to Tangi. "I think he got something new from the eyes." Tangi's face turned to a more serious one.

"Let's not talk now…" he replied. "I'll return them when we get outside so we can talk."

"Afraid he might learn more about himself?" Fenrir turned to where Tangi was staring off to; Flint trying to pry the gecko off his face.

"I'm afraid of him being afraid of himself…" He stood up and walked over to the counter. "Nurse Joy." The nurse turned away from a trainer at the counter and walked over to Tangi. He held out his right hand, offering her a handshake. "Thank you," he said with a smile. She smiled back and grabbed his hand.

"Remember, take the bandage off and let the skin breathe or you'll have more problems." He wanted to roll his eyes at her for acting as the protective mother still, but he knew she meant well.

"I will. I might pop over after the gym match." He took his hand away from her and waved good-bye. He ran over to his Pokémon as Flint finally freed his face from Nidhogg. "Alright, we got work to do guys!" He bolted for the door, and ran outside.

"Ah! Sunlight!" Tangi basked in the sunrays as he stretched; finally being outdoors after four days. He turned to his team and nodded to himself. '_I couldn't possibly lose with these guys backing me up._' He looked between them all; Flint was as happy to be outside as he was, Nidhogg was even happier than him and Flint combined. When he looked at Fenrir though he received a stern look. Sighing, he grabbed his three Pokéballs off his belt. "Okay, I'm sorry guys but I'll have to keep you in the 'balls till the match." Flint and Nidhogg groaned but Tangi countered their reactions with his excuse. "Hey, we don't want the gym leader to have the advantage of knowing what we got, do we?" The two 'mons turned to each other then back to their trainer and nodded.

"Right then!" Tangi pressed the return buttons on Flint and Nidhogg's Pokéballs and placed them on his belt. He looked at Fenrir again with a blank expression. "What were you saying inside?" Fenrir crossed his arms and walked towards him.

"He told me the other night," he stopped a foot away from Tangi; so his voice could only be heard by the two. "When the officer came over…" He looked Tangi in the eyes. "He said something about 'having control of his eyes.'" Tangi just raised a brow.

"How so?"

"… He has 'his hand on the switch,' or so to say. He looked at me with them dilated, and then he just… Well, turned them off." He looked at his trainer's face; seeing the rare "lost in thought" face on him.

"… Professor Burch said that he could gain some control over it over time… But…" Just going by when Tangi was with Flint, he's had this trait for nine days. '_No… More accurately, he's had it since he was born. Still, nine days of it being almost constantly active… That still couldn't have sped up the process from how Burch said it… Could it?_' "Okay, so he can control whether if he uses it or not now?" Fenrir shook his head.

"Maybe. I'm not so sure though."

"Why's that?" A deep breath and then his answer came.

"When he asked for lessons from me… His eyes were different. And no, I don't mean dilated different. I mean-" some trainers ran out of the PokéCenter. Fenrir waited for them to pass before he continued. "Tangi, his eyes were red. Not fully red, but the pupils were red slits." Fear developed inside Tangi. "Furthermore… I think this new 'redeye' gave him something else."

"How do you mean?" Tangi prayed it was nothing compared to what happened 'that' night.

"During his lessons, his pupils narrowed, but he didn't seem aware of it. I think he does have some switch on it, but something in his subconscious is triggering the effect as it pleases. And…"

"And?" Tangi didn't want to any more but he had to; for Flint's sake.

"I think they're giving some 'mimic' effect. The only two words he learned were 'okay' and your name. Both of those were the day that his redeye triggered without him knowing." Tangi crossed his arms. He looked up to the sky and stared as the clouds passed.

"… Then I have no choice I suppose." He continued to stare at the sky. Fenrir cocked his head.

"You're reporting it to Rowan?"

"Nope!" Fenrir stared at his trainer, waiting for the rest. He lowered his head with his 'no problem!' grin on. "You heard me before. I told him I trusted him!" He placed his hands behind his head and walked a few feet away from Fenrir. "And when you trust someone, you back them. 100%. I trust him to figure out himself. The only time I'll comment is if he comes to me for help." He stopped, dropped his arms to his side, and turned to Fenrir. He had an expression that Fenrir thought was intimidating and fitting for Flint's trainer. "And I'll be damned if anyone tries to stop him."

"… Heh. You just like the hard approach, don't you?" Tangi reverted back to his stupid grin. "You said you were afraid he'd become afraid of himself… Are you sure he'll be fine?"

"Of course I'm sure! I told you, I trust him. 100%!" He held his arm out, giving Fenrir a thumbs up. Suddenly, a baseball came into the scene; smacking into Tangi's arm. His teeth clenched together and he dropped to his knees; grabbing his arm. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" was all his mouth let slide; biting his lip to suppress the rest of the word.

"Oh! Sorry there!" Three kids ran up to Tangi. Two were standing a ways back and staring at the Lucario while the other one ran up to the ball and reached for it right next to Tangi. Tangi tapped him on the shoulder with his good arm.

"Kid. Which one of you threw the ball?" The boy hesitated at first but pointed at one of the boys off to the side that was wearing a green jersey. Tangi peeked from the corner of his right eye. "Right then…" The two children walked up closer.

"Hey mister, I'm sorr-"

"RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tangi shot up to his feet and shot his arms into the air. He let his bag slide off his shoulder as he lowered his left arm and grabbed the strap. Spinning it as fast as he could, he started running towards the kids. They all screamed and started to run around the building. "Come back here and accept punishment, you brats!!!" Fenrir just watched hopelessly at the scene before him and sighed. Nurse Joy ran outside.

"What is all of the commot-" she started before she saw Fenrir. He was pointing at the side of the building where Tangi had caught up to the boys and smacked each of them on the head before lecturing them.

"And THAT'S why you look before you pitch! Got it?!"

"Y-yes sir…" they all replied as they rubbed their heads.

"Right then. You're excused!" Tangi walked back to the front as the children ran for their ball and back to the yard they were playing at. "Kids these days, really…"

Discussions and his arm's reexamination (plus a stern talking from Nurse Joy for hitting children) out of the way, Tangi walked his way through town. A few people turned their heads as he walked past them. His right hand in his pocket and his left arm carrying his bag over his shoulder, Tangi looked, essentially, like a punk. '_If I had some sunglasses and some headphones, I'd look like a school drop-out or something._' For whatever reason, he liked this look. A clinking sound caught his attention; the noise coming from the coal mines of the town. Oreburgh City; city of coal. It had mining operations that had tunnels stretching even under the sea. '_Amazing, really._' He smiled and gazed off at the distant noise.

"Hey, ya hear that Roark hasn't been at the gym lately?"

"Yea. Heard some kid beat him a while back. He's been holding it over himself for the longest time." Two miners walked behind Tangi as they headed toward town; most likely returning home for lunch. He turned around at a speed he thought would have cracked his next. Both were wearing grey jump suits that were covered in filth. One was a more lean-build while the other was rather round in the middle.

"Really?" The leaner man stopped. "Man, I didn't think he'd hold onto something as small as a lost. I mean, how many losses has he honestly had in a one for one try, ya know?" The bigger guy chuckled.

"I know. Poor guy's been staying in the tunnels apparently. Not that I'm complaining! If his training involves giving us less work, by all means!"

"Heh, ya I know. But the way I hear it… Is the kid dominated him. Only used one Pokémon."

"No kidding? Man, why didn't I hear about this sooner?"

"Maybe cause it was all drowned out by that thing at the PokéCenter few days back." Tangi thought this was a perfect time to intrude in the conversation.

"Excuse me, sirs!" He raised his hand and briskly walked to them. "Hi, sorry. I heard you talking about the gym leader for this town's gym. Do you know which site I can find him at?" Both of the men turned to each other, looked at Tangi's arm, then back at him. "What?"

"We could tell you, yea… But maybe you should consider coming back when you might be a challenge to Roark?" Tangi's stomped his foot and waved his arm to the side, like he was swatting at something in his way.

"What does that mean!? I know the guy that wiped the floor with him and I can stand toe-to-toe with him!" Both men turned their gazes upon each other, then back to Tangi with a suspicious look. "You don't believe me, do you!?"

"Kid, were you the one that fought the kid in front of the PokéCenter few days back?" Tangi irked. "I'll assume that to be a yes. And you lost to him, didn't ya?"

"N-not exactly… It was declared a draw." Tangi averted his sight away from them. The thinner man spoke up.

"Tunnel system five. Follow the stairs in front of ya. He's near the back." Tangi turned back to him in a happier mood.

"Oi Roy…" Roy turned to the bigger man.

"Can it Tom. This isn't a kid; he's obviously a man. And men don't sulk on defeat. Roark is the kid if anything." Roy turned to Tangi. "You. I told you where the gym leader is. Why you standing there with that stupid look on yer face?" Tangi nodded.

"Thanks mate!" He turned around and ran full throttle to the mines down the stairs. Tom and Roy watched him run off before Tom spoke up.

"What'd ya tell him that for?" Roy chuckled.

"We need Roark to cheer up. And that kid did seem he could get Roark back on his feet. Now come on! My girl said she would have a meatloaf done by the time we got there!"

In history, there have always been stories of mines collapsing with people trapped inside due to the digging. Now a days, combining technology and Pokémon's help, people or Oreburgh City managed to keep the mines in such a safe state that tourist could come in and out as they pleased. Though they were warned; stray from the path and you might encounter ruthless, wild Pokémon.

Unfortunately, that's exactly where Tangi had to go. Already on the rough path of the mines, he had been searching for Roark, the gym leader, for a good twenty minutes. "Right at the back my ass…" he muttered as he climbed over some rocks. "Man, the things I do for a gym badge! I wonder if I'll have to do something like this all the time…" He paused and thought upon the possibility of the seven other gyms having detours like this and it made him shiver. '_I'll just get a team made up, train them and face the tournament challenge before the Elite Four challenge if that's the case._'

Ten more minutes of looking and Tangi's impatience caught up with him. "Hey!" He started shouting, "Roark! Hey! Where you at?! I want my badge!" The ground started to shake. '_Shit! A cave-in?_' Tangi started to backtrack the best he could when the ground shook harder. It was no cave-in; nor an earthquake. It felt like… '_Like something moving below?_'

The ground split open a few feet away from Tangi, a deafening roar following. He covered his ears and looked at the source; an Onix appeared. "Damn, really?" He took a hand off his ear and pulled off one of his Pokéballs when a shout came from behind the rock-snake.

"Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to spook you!" Tangi held his position until hey could locate the person shouting. "Up here!" He looked at the top of Onix's head and, sure enough, there was a person on top of it. The man had brown hair and was wearing glasses. He was dressed in miner suit similar to the other men, but it was more of a two piece instead of a jumper suit. It also bore yellow and black strips at the end of the sleeves and two yellow strips at the bottom of the shirt. Keeping a hand on his red miner cap, the man jumped off the Pokémon and sprinted towards Tangi.

"Really sorry about that! We were training while digging up some new tunnel ways!" He stopped a few feet from Tangi and dusted himself off. "Heard someone shouting my name, so we came as fast as we could! How can I be of service?" Tangi minimized his Pokéball.

"You're Roark?" The man nodded. "Great!" He grabbed Roark's hand and started shaking it. "I've been looking for you! You need to get back to the gym so we can have our match!" Roark just stared at Tangi's arm the whole time. Feeling awkward about it, he pulled his hands back and tucked his right arm behind his back.

"Didn't get that here, did ya?" Roark leaned to Tangi's right as if trying to get another look at it.

"Not 'here' here, but here in town yes…" Roark looked him over one last time.

"… Been through a lot the past few days?" Tangi nodded. "Heh, guess we got something in common…" Sighing, he removed his cap and started scratching his hair. "Alright. I've been sulking down here long enough" A ray of hope bathed Tangi in the darken mines. Roark looked at his face and started laughing. "I had that same expression so many times working down here! We're always finding stuff, you know." He walked over to his Onix. "Coal, minerals. Hell, we've found some fossils to boot!" He turned around to Tangi. "But I think what I just found here is worth further exploration."

"Eh? What'd you find?" Tangi looked past the Onix in some vain attempt to see if it was behind him. Roark started laughing again.

"Ah, I'll tell ya another time. Right now, I should be polite and offer you a lift out since you came looking for me."

The thirty minute trip Tangi walked was shorten to a three minute ride via Onix-carriage. Some of the miners were cheering to see that the gym leader finally came out of his hole; both physically and emotionally. Walking down the tunnel back to town, Tangi really understood how the town felt for Roark… "Wait a second." Roark turned around and stared at Tangi. It dawned on him finally. "Those workers from before used me to get you out of there! Gah!! I'm gonna sock both of them if I see them again!" Roark laughed again and continued walking as Tangi blew steam while following.

Oreburgh City Gym; the Rock-Type Gym of Sinnoh. Many trainers come here first because they think that Rock-Types are the easiest to deal with; until Roark obtain leadership. Before that, everyone that came to the gym got their badges on their first go. Roark hardly lost the first time round; first time being against Cynthia. Afterwards, apparently Hazru was the next to go one-for-one in the match. "I do apologize for my absence from the gym and you having to come find me," Roark said as he threw off his gloves at the entryway of the gym. Tangi looked around and saw plenty of gym-trainers staring him down. Roark raised his arms. "Sorry gang, this one has a free pass to directly face me today!" Tangi grinned away for being "privileged" as he looked around at the now disappointed group. "This way Tangi. And we'll be needed a referee!" All of the trainers made a mad dash to the arena.

"Guess its 'first come, first serve' with referee title here?"

"Hahah, yea. Something like that. If you don't mind giving me a few minutes to get ready…" Tangi nodded and was left standing in the hallway of the gym.

'_Guess now's the best time to get a strategy going…_' He grabbed his Pokéballs and hit the unlock buttons on the front; enlarging them. He tossed them up into the air and caught them upon descent. They all stretched in place and greeted their trainer.

"Tangi." Flint said with a smile. Tangi stood still for a moment, mouth gaping open despite the fact he already heard Flint talk. Overflowed with a sudden feeling of cheer, he leapt forward, no thought for his arm, and grabbed Flint.

"Oh my God I don't care how girly this will sound that was sooooooooo-" Fenrir socked him upside the head, prompting Nidhogg to start laughing hysterically at this.

"Not so much 'girly' as sad. And what else did you say? I could only make out that much." Fenrir looked over with Flint franticly shaking Tangi. He sat up and grabbed his head.

"I can't help it. Flint's a dragon-like Pokémon and I've been obsessed with dragons since I was like three. You have any idea how many times I dreamt about raising one?"

"That's rather sad if your dream makes you squeal like some a three year old, as you said." Blunt words that were surprisingly sharp as they felt like they stabbed though Tangi. His dream was called sad; thus he should be sad.

"My dream has been dishonored and there's nothing I can do to protect it…" Flint put a paw on his head causing him to look up.

"Tangi okay?" And once again Tangi had to grab Flint and squeal. Fenrir slapped his forehead.

"I give up. You'll never listen." Tangi looked over Flint's shoulder.

"I can give you a hug too if you're that upse-" Aura Sphere to the face. Shockingly to Fenrir, Tangi shot right back up. "Your anger just means you need one!" He ran toward Fenrir. He sighed and held his arms open. '_Eh? He really wants on-'_ "OHSHI- CHEST SPIKE!" Tangi came to a halt. "You tried to kill me!" Nidhogg, still laughing the day away, rolled over on his stomach and started banging his paw on the floor. Flint started to join him in the laughter.

"I did not! I opened myself to you to accept your friendly embrace, and you shot me down because of my physical appearance."

"Dude. You have a chest spike. That impales stuff!" Fenrir turned away with a smirk on his face.

"Isn't friendship supposed to surpass even physical defaults? I guess I'll never know true friendship!" Tangi stepped closer.

"Okay, just um… Handshake?" He held his hand out to which Fenrir turned his head away from.

"After you gave Flint a hug? What does that say? He's first-rate treatment and I'm third-rate!? And what's Nidhogg?" Tangi looked back and forth between his 'mon and grabbed his head in hopes his thoughts would stop spinning. He fell backwards onto the floor.

"No more playing with Tangi's head please?" He laid there not sure what else to say. Fenrir walked over and offered him a hand to get up. Tangi smiled and took it. "Oh. Damn it." All his 'mon looked over at him. "We never talked strategies…" Fenrir smacked him on the head.

"And who's fault is that? Hm? Oh my God it's your fault!" Tangi Flint and Nidhogg all stared at him; all having an expression of fright across their faces. "What? I can't do it?"

"Fenrir, I will PAY you not do to that ever again. In whatever form of payment you want." Flint and Nidhogg started laughing. After Fenrir joined in, so did Tangi.

"Hey! Challenger! Roark's ready for… What are you doing?" All of them looked at each other, and then Tangi turned to him.

"Oh, just some pre-battle pep-talk!"

Footnotes: Long chapter! Flint said his first two words! And Fenrir's playing big brother for the team. He's going to be keeping that role the whole story. I basically got the personalities for all the Pokémon that'll be on Tangi's team figured out. I think Flint is the one that's closest to Tangi's personality (by sheer accident I swear). Tangi got new clothes too! Anytime I make people's outfits I go look in my closet… I cosplay to Anime Conventions so I have a bunch of stuff. Tank's is actually based on Genji's outfit from Get Backers except with blue jean shorts. Hazru I forgot how… Reb is based off this one girl from Dragon Drive, I don't know forgot her name. Been like a year since I seen that… Tangi's new one is based off something I actually wear on normal days. Also, the "Tangi freaking out" thing with Flint… I'm a dragon otaku lol. On FFXI I play Dragoon mainly. It's a job with a pet wyvern… Tis awesome~ But enough from me, chapter preview time!

Next Chapter: Finally, Tangi and the team get to face Roark for their Coal Badge! And are things getting… Grassy? That's right; Nidhogg makes his first time battle appearance! But Roark has his own tricks…


	10. Gym Fight Roark of the Rocks!

**A/N**: I just spent the past month vegging out on Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (yes I spent the time/money to have it shipped over to America), Soul Eater (anime AND manga), camping Sandworm/Dark Ixion/King Behemoth/Fafhogg/Emo turtle and leveling Puppetmaster to 75 on FFXI. Conclusion; my brain is MUSH! Well, was. Then I saw the light… darkness*twitch*darkness! Also, feel free to insult me for the bad title lol…

Chapter 10: Gym Fight; Roark of the Rocks!

"Freaks." Tangi tried to dart up to smack the kid over the head, but his attempt was rendered useless as Fenrir and Flint grabbed onto him. The kid at the top of the stairs turned his back to them. "Roark's ready. Don't keep him waiting any longer," he yelled before walking off out of view. Fenrir and Flint released their grip on Tangi.

"… Heh." All of Tangi's Pokémon turned to him. He sprang up to his feet and shot his arms into the air. "The fool dares to call me a freak!" He broke into a sprint for the steps, but Fenrir grabbed his shirt collar; causing him to snap backwards from the sudden stop.

"Aren't you supposed to put us in our Pokéballs to keep the gym leader seeing what setup you have…?" Realization dawned upon Tangi.

"Oh. Right." He jumped back up to his feet. "Good plan! Now I just need one to punish th-" Fenrir interrupted bluntly.

"You are not doing anything to that kid. Live with being a freak and get going."

"Hmm… Yea, I gues- Did you just call me a freak!?" He shook his fist at the Lucario.

"Tangi…" He turned to Flint who was making a face; the kind that you make when you want someone to stop even though you know they mean no harm. Few more seconds of staring and Tangi lunged at Flint to hug him; prompting Fenrir to sock him upside the head. Nidhogg started clapping and laughing away while Flint stared at his dazed trainer. He turned to Fenrir, reverting to native Charmeleon. "I could have sworn you said you weren't going to hurt him with the injury."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said matter-of-factly as he nodded to himself and crossed his arms. Flint sighed and turned back to Tangi in time to run over and stop Nidhogg from doodling on his face. He picked him up and held him in front of his face.

"Where are you even getting these markers from!?" Nidhogg blinked at him a few times before replying.

"I have quite a few planted on Tangi's person and in his bag when needed!" He grinned widely at Flint as if nothing was wrong. The other two 'mon just stared at him, thinking to their selves…

'_How did he plant them on Tangi without him knowing…?' _

"What the hell! I told you not to keep Roark waiting!" All three of them turned to the stairs as Tangi laid on the floor; still lost in his trauma-induced daze. The boy looked at the challenger on the floor. "Why's the freak passed out?" Tangi revived.

"Stop calling me a freak!" The boy crossed his arms.

"If you wake up to 'freak', then you're obviously use to responding to it!" He stuck his tongue out.

"Damn brat!" He bolted for the stairs again and, like before, was stopped by a grip around his shirt collar. He jumped up to his feet, turned to Fenrir and opened his mouth to speak before Fenrir interrupted.

"Pokéballs." He blinked a few times, reached for the 'balls on his belt and hit the return buttons.

"He could have said that without trying to snap my neck again," Tangi sighed as he placed them on his belt. Another deep breath and he began his march upstairs… Punching the kid on the crown of his head when he reached the top.

"Oh, there you are." Roark beamed at Tangi. "I thought you were getting cold feet."

"Not exactly," he shouted back; scratching his head. "I guess you could say I was knocked off them a few times though."

"Eh?"

"Nah, forget it." Tangi looked over at Roark '_A Rock-Type user… Nice defense, but they normally have shit Special-Defense… And all my Pokémon have moves that overpower them…_' Then it dawned on him; '_Actually, I never used Nidhogg for battle before. I don't even know what he has to use…_' He knew Flint had Metal Claw and Fenrir had Aura Sphere and Force Palm, plus they were at a much higher level than Nidhogg. '_Still… I can't just neglect him._' He grabbed Nidhogg's Pokéball off his waist and his Pokédex out of his pocket and gave it a scan.

Nidhogg/TREECKO Lv.12

Pound, Absorb, Quick Attack, Bullet Seed.

'_At least he has some Grass-Type moves.' _"Okay, Roark! I know who my first Pokémon is! Ready when you are!"

"Good to know Tangi! But," he took his hard hat off and scratched his hair, "You still didn't hear the rules." Tangi blinked a few times and hammered his right hand down onto his left hand with an "Oh." expression on his face. "Hah! You are a strange one…" The boy from the stairs came into view as he walked to the referee box.

"He's a freak is what he is…" He glared at Tangi who, this time, didn't start shouting at him. He was to busy looking down Roark. "Hey, fre-"

"Instead of spewing your childish insults, could you explain the rules for this gym match?" Tangi turned to the boy, smirked, then turned back to Roark. He grunted.

"Fine… I, Alex, shall referee today's match. The gym leader, Roark, is allowed three Pokémon; no exchanges. The challenger is allowed to use all Pokémon on his person; exchanges allowed. No time limit on the match; no handicaps beyond what was listed." Alex turned between Roark and Tangi to confirm that both sides understood the rules. "Has the gym leader decided on his first Pokémon?" Roark nodded. "And the challenger?" Tangi nodded. "Very well… Begin!"

"Geodude!"

"Nidhogg; go!" Both Pokémon sprang from their Pokéballs and onto the field. Geodude remained floating above the ground next to his trainer, where as Nidhogg…

"Treecko Treecko Treecko Treecko!" Tangi stood in his box; arm still out from throwing the Pokéball, but now with a green gecko running around his legs. He remained stationary for a few seconds before standing up straight, then picking up the 'mon and holding him in front of him.

"Nid, buddy… This is a gym match." He turned him out towards the field where Roark was trying not to chuckle to be polite, Geodude was floating with a grim look on his face and all the gym trainers were laughing at the behavior of the Treecko. Nidhogg took it all in for a moment and then released himself from Tangi's grip. He turned to him and began bounding left and right like a boxer. "Ahahah! Ya know, now I'm wondering if you're even a fighting type of Pokémon."

"Sorry to interrupt your chat, but you have a Gym Match going. Unless you mean to insult Roark…" Alex snottily said toward Tangi. He turned towards him, scratching his head and both eyes closed.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no time limit on this match." He opened one eye to look at the brat's expression; fuming. Roark cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"You're correct on that matter, Tangi. And I do like that you are relaxed with your Pokémon, but some Gym Leaders wouldn't be as polite as I am and wait for you to be done chatting. The match started and I had quite a few openings to attack had I wanted to." Roark had a much sterner look on his faces now that lead Tangi to understand just why he was a Gym Leader. He smirked in response.

"Nidhogg, don't hold back." He nodded and walked up to Geodude. "Go ahead Roark. Nid's giving ya the first strike." Roark just smirked slightly.

'_Brave little 'mon…_' "Geodude; Rock Smash!" The rock-type lifted his right arm into the air and began to send it crashing down towards the gecko. Just as it was about to connect however, Nidhogg flipped forward onto the 'mon and let out a Bullet Seed attack right on top of Geodude's head. Roark, Tangi and Alex all dropped their mouths at the sight; the prankster could fight!

"Geo!" He swung his arms above his head to swipe the little lizard, but Nidhogg had jumped off his head and onto Roark's hat, then onto the wall and proceeded to climb up it. When he reached the roof, he stayed on two legs and began doing what looked like some sort of dance at the top; seeming to taunt the Geodude.

"Geodude; Rock Throw!" He began tossing loose rocks from where his Rock Smash had hit the gym floor towards Nidhogg, but all he did was walk a few steps to each side; easily yet effectively dodging them. "No good…" Roark muttered. "Fine. Geodude; go after him!" Geodude let out a cry as he lunged himself at the wall and began to climb up.

'_Geodudes can only float because they have a sort of built-in magnet that gets them off the ground slightly; since it repels the natural magnetic force the Earth causes…_' Tangi suddenly remembered from what Professor Rowan told him. '_Meaning, he'd have to dig his hands into the wall if he wanted to get higher than he can flo- wait. His hands…_' Tangi watched the Geodude finally reach the top of the gym and began to dig his hands into the ceiling. '_That's it!' _"Nidhogg; Bullet Seed him!" Just as Geodude's second hand dug into the surface of the ceiling, Nidhogg left out his barrage of seeds at him. His arms being the only thing keeping him attached, Geodude had to take the attack head on!

"Now, Pound attack!" The Treecko charged toward his target and smacked him backwards into the ceiling. "Bullet Seed one more time!" Nidhogg had released his feet's grip on the ceiling so he was just under his target. He aimed the first part of the barrage at Geodude's right hand. The second at his left. Finally, he aimed the third for all around the dangling 'mon; which caused the ceiling to give away and drop the rock-type down to the floor just like… Well, a rock.

"Geodude is unable to battle! Roark; please select your next Pokémon." Alex finally said after the dust cloud cleared. The gym trainers all groaned from their seats as Roark looked at his Geodude, then over at Nidhogg; who was already halfway to his trainer. Tangi picked him up and tossed him into the air a few times.

'… _Heh._' Roark grabbed his Pokéball off his belt and returned Geodude. "Nice show Tangi." He stopped tossing Nidhogg and turned towards Roark. "However, that was rather dishonest of you; making that Treecko seem like a beginner." He just blinked stupidly at Roark a few times before replying.

"I didn't tell him to do that. Nidhogg just acts like Nidhogg is all," he finished with a smile as the gecko climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder. He began rummaging through Tangi's pack and pulled out a marker. He uncapped it and began to climb to the front of Tangi before his trainer picked him off his shirt. He stared down the 'mon before saying, "Hell. No." Nidhogg puffed his checks and started waving his arms around, franticly trying to doodle on his trainer's face. Roark just continued to stare at the pair.

He pondered to himself for a moment before pulling his second Pokéball off his belt. "Onix!" Tangi and Nidhogg started at each other before turning towards the battlefield. The giant rock-snake appeared before them; quite intimidating actually. He started down the challengers of his trainer and let out a deafening roar. "Remember; we're still in a match Tangi. I suggest you start acting more serious." Tangi grunted before placing Nidhogg back on the ground. He took the marker away and kneeled down to him.

"If you win this, I'll let you pull one punishment-free prank on myself or the others. Deal?" Nidhogg's eyes widened with delight as he franticly nodded to Tangi. He smiled and walked back to his trainer box. "Ready!" Roark nodded. They both waited for Alex to give the command.

"… Round two… Begin!"

"Onix, Stealth Rock!" The snake smacked his tail onto the ground and knocked well-sized rocks into the air, where they remained floating. They suddenly moved over to Tangi's side of the field where he was looking around clueless. "Stealth Rock is a special Rock-Type move. Whenever the opponent switches out his Pokémon, the rocks will attack them." Tangi was about to complain but Roark gave him no time for that. "Onix; Tackle!" He charged his head forward at Nidhogg.

"Nidhogg; dodge it like with Geodude!" He did so and landed right on top of Onix. Roark smirked.

""Dig now!" Onix began to barrow his way down underground, causing Nidhogg to jump off to avoid being taken under with him. He looked around himself to try to guess where the Pokémon was going to pop out.

'_Normally, Pokémon that use Dig just try to feel vibrations in the ground…_' "Nidhogg, stay where you are!" Nidhogg turned to Tangi, expression asking for something more than that for a command. Tangi stuck both arms behind his head. "Well fine, if you're that scared, you can come closer to me," he said with a wink at the end. Nidhogg tilted his head slightly until he finally caught on. He grinned and jumped into the air, launching Bullet Seeds at the ground in a straight line towards Tangi. Roark caught on too late for his Onix emerged just in front of Tangi; thinking he was cutting off Nidhogg.

"Now Nid; Bullet Seed again!" Nidhogg turned his head toward the rock-snake and released another flurry of seeds. Onix roared to the ceiling before retreating underground. Nidhogg landed and looked around like before for a clue as to where he'd appear. '_Doubt the same trick will work again…_' Tangi racked his brain for some idea to make Roark's Onix appear again. '_One more hit from Bullet Seed and he's done… But that doesn't help me now._' Tangi himself began looking around for a hint as to where Onix was. Roark just chuckled at the two.

"Onix," he began shouting. "Attack now!" Tangi cursed and shouted his order.

"Nidhogg! Leap backwards!" He did so but that was a mistake; Onix was right where Nidhogg would have landed. The crowd of gym trainers cheered as he knocked the Treecko into the ceiling. He couldn't get a grip onto the surface so he began to free-fall back to the floor... Until Onix smacked him downwards with his tail. Dust filled the gym as Roark, Tangi, Alex and the other trainers looked to see the results.

"… What?!" Roark was the first to see into the cloud of dust; he being a miner trained his eyes to see better in these types of situations. Nidhogg was nowhere on the ground. Rather, he was already climbing up Onix's back and onto his horn. Tangi looked up when he saw a blur of motion on top of the rock-snake's head.

"Nidhogg; do it!" Nidhogg turned his head toward Onix and let out one final Bullet Seed. He roared again and slammed his head into the ceiling, causing it to finally fall apart. The trainers cleared the stands and Alex had to leave his referee box to avoid the rubble that was falling. He looked back toward the field and noticed that neither Roark nor Tangi had moved from their box. They both just continued to stare into the arena waiting for some hint as to who was still standing.

"O-Onix is unable to battle," Alex shouted. Onix was, indeed, knocked out. Whether it was from the attack from Nidhogg or him slamming his head into the ceiling; he was out cold. Tangi looked around for Nidhogg but no sign of him.

"Nid?" He looked around to see if his call was answered. Then he suddenly thought; '_What if he's under Onix?_' He ran out of his box and tried lifting Onix's head to look. "Nid! Come on, answer already!"

Nidhogg stood up and shook his head. '_Al-Almost passed out…_' He turned his gaze to where Tangi -was- standing but no sign of him. "Nid, come on!" He turned his head to his right and saw Tangi trying to lift Onix's head. '_He thinks I'm under him…?_' Then he remembered the deal Tangi made with him. He had indeed won this match; thus, he could have one punishment-free prank. He chuckled to himself as he stood up and leapt onto Tangi's backpack without anyone noticing.

"Come on…!" Roark finally realized what Tangi was trying to do and returned his Pokémon. Tangi toppled forward but braced himself. He looked around where Onix was just at but no sign of Nidhogg. "Then… Then the rubble!" He shot up onto his legs and began flipping over parts of the ceiling that fell. Roark just stared at him in worry; hoping that the little 'mon was okay. Then he noticed movement on Tangi's pack.

"Uh, Tangi." He turned but a screech in his left ear stopped him cold.

"!" Tangi also had screamed but Nidhogg had drowned it out with his own scream. He fell backwards onto his back and smacked his head on the ground; causing him to roll over and grab at the spot of impact. As his hearing started to return, he heard an unmistakably familiar laugh coming from behind him. He rolled over to his other side and saw exactly what he knew he'd see; a Treecko rolling around in one spot laughing while holding his gut. Nid finally rolled over onto his stomach and started pounding both fist into the floor. Everyone in the gym just stared at the gecko.

Tangi glared him down before sighing. He sat up and grabbed Nid by the tail; dangling him in front of his face. Nidhogg just smiled at him like a child. He sighed before speaking up. "Guess I had that coming, huh…" He smacked his forehead with his free arm as Nidhogg chuckled behind his paws. Roark, Alex and the trainers all continued to stare on before Alex finally interrupted.

"U-um… Roark still has one Pokémon left. Will the challenger be making a swap?" Tangi turned toward him at neck-breaking speed.

"Yes!" Alex stared at him startled. "I can't afford another prank for this monster," he yelled as he pointed at Nidhogg; who started waving his paws at Tangi's face to try to smack him for calling him a monster. Roark watched for a moment before he broke into laughter. Everyone turned to him.

"I-I'm sorry," he forced out from behind the laughter. "This is u-unbecoming of a-a-any gym le-leader!" Tangi joined him in the laughter."

"Nah, don't be! It's gotta be tough being serious all the time." Roark calmed himself and looked up at Tangi again. Popping a grin before speaking, he continued. "If you take it seriously, you start to lose the joy in it." Nidhogg finally landed a smack onto Tangi, prompting him to start yelling at him; receiving cries back from the 'mon.

'_Start to lose the joy, eh…_' Roark nodded to himself and shouted back at the challengers. "If you wouldn't mind reporting back to your box, I still have my ace up my sleeve." Tangi nodded and returned Nid to his Pokéball.

'_Even if that deal didn't happen, I'd have returned him. He needs a break after all that._' Tangi grabbed his next choice off his belt and held it to his side. '_I was going to let all of them fight today, but I'll just make it up to him next time._'

"If the leader and the challenger are ready…" Alex looked between the two. With the ceiling gone, there was little lighting in the arena; save what little light remained as the sun was setting. When he confirmed that both were indeed ready, he gave the command; "Begin round three!"

"Cranidos!" Out came a tiny Pokémon that Tangi recognized as a Fossil Pokémon.

'_Well, they do find fossils in the mines. That's what Roark himself told me._' He nodded and shouted toward Roark. He tossed his Pokéball into the air and let out…

"Char…" Flint landed on the ground floor; both eyes closed and arms to his side but in a posture that looked like he had his paws in invisible pockets. Suddenly the floor began to shift and the rocks Onix used for Stealth Rock started to close in on him. Roark smiled, but that was soon changed to shock and awe. As each rock closed in onto Flint, he dodged them with minimal effort; still holding his pose. When each rock had its turn to attack, then fell to the ground. He grinned to himself and opened one eye; giving him a cocky expression. "Charmel~eon!" He stuck his tongue out at the end, just adding to the cocky nature he had.

"Oh. My. GOD." Tangi tackled him from behind and pulled him in for a hug; like a dotting parent. "That was sooooooooooo awesome!" He started hugging him tighter while a face of embarrassment fell across Flint's face.

"Tangi," he muttered. The hugging stopped for a moment, but was replaced with tighter hugging.

"KAWI!" Flint started waving his paws at Roark for help who just stood there with Cranidos staring at the pair.

'_There's… There's no way he's a trainer…_' Roark thought to himself despite the two previous rounds. Then it occurred to him that the Charmeleon talked. "How did you get your Charmeleon to talk?" Tangi stopped and started at Roark; making his offense apparent.

"His name is Flint," he stated bluntly. "And Fenrir taught him a little bit. He's still learning," he finished by ruffling the top of Flint's; just at the base of his horn. Flint just stood there and took it with a small smile on his face.

"CRANI!" Tangi blinked slightly but was pushed off by Flint. Roark's Cranidos lunged at the pair out of impatience. He landed on his feet and turned toward Flint before launching another attack at him.

"Oh, right…" Finally, Tangi was brought back to reality. Flint kept jumping backwards away from the head butt attacks coming from the 'mon. "Flint, keep dodging!"

"No shit!" He growled back in native Charmeleon; being glad that Tangi couldn't understand that. Flint felt like being rude as he fought for some reason. Though now he felt bad for saying that to Tangi, despite if he understood it or not. He smacked the attacked to the side with his right paw and turned toward Tangi. "Okay, Tangi!" The sudden "proud parent" expression came across his face again, but one growl from Flint and Tangi managed to suppress the urge. He nodded to Flint who nodded back. He blinked and Tangi finally saw what Fenrir was talking about; the red eye.

Flint turned toward Cranidos before Tangi could say anything and motion for him to come at him; wearing his smug smirk from before on his face. Even Roark felt insulted by it.

"He's a nice fighter just from the looks of it Tangi… Even if you seem to baby him." Tangi just chuckled back in response.

"He's far from babied. We're just close friends is all," he finished from smacking his right fist on his chest. Roark started at the bandaging.

"… Was he the one to do that?" Flint eyes widened slightly and Tangi's cheerful expression dropped to a shocked one. "I see. I thought he was being a bit kind for his species. He must being so well behaved from… Guilt?"

"No." Roark looked at Tangi; his expression sadden but with a smile. "You said that because you thought something else, right? It wasn't because of his behavior, was it?" Roark looked him down sternly. Tangi grinned at him. "You can't shake Flint with sob shit like guilt." Roark stared Tangi down before turning toward Flint; to which he felt was a mistake. "We already agreed…" Roark; being thankful for a chance to turn away from the Charmeleon, looked back at Tangi. "… That this," he said while holding his injured arm in front of him. "Would be the only thing with scars." Tangi took a deep breath and tried his best to imitate Flint's gaze the best he could. "Try that scare tactic shit on Flint again, and you'll see just how pissed off I can get."

Roark shuddered slightly from how well the two challengers could sync with each other's expression so well. Alex tried to inch away from Tangi's side of the field hoping that no one would notice it. Cranidos took a step toward Tangi cried at him for making his trainer feel threatened; to which Flint responded by stepping forward and snarling at him. His red eyes fixed onto the dinosaur… The silenced that followed was broke by Roark's laughter.

"Forgive me," he got out as his laughs settled down. "Seems I do indeed act a little like him when I'm faced with someone like you, Tangi." Tangi sighed and smiled back at him.

"I should apologize actually. Guess I lost my cool, eh?' He grinned at Roark. Flint cocked his head at Tangi slightly and smirked before returning to glaring down his opponent.

"Flint seems to have the right idea." Roark cleared his throat before continuing, "This is still a match… And a rather important one at that." Tangi nodded back in response. "Alex, could you, say, redo the call for this match? We didn't exactly get it off on the right foot there." Alex nodded hesitantly and waited for the Pokémon to walk back to their side of the fields. Cranidos stood at Roark's feet; moving his feet in place; preparing himself to charge. Flint walked up to Tangi; who smiled down at him. He smiled back up then pulled on his shirt when Tangi looked back at Roark; once again gaining his interest.

"Tangi…" Flint started while staring at the ground. He looked up at his trainer and, although Tangi thought he was ready for whatever Flint was about to do, he wasn't ready for this. He saw Flint's red eyes changed slightly; Still red but black started surrounding the red. They soon were no longer slits but rather seemed to be his normal eyes; red pupils and black coloring. "I'll do my best…" he finished; Tangi's jaw dropping. Before he could respond though…

"Begin!" Flint turned around and ran back into the battlefield; meeting Cranidos' head butt with his Dragon Claw. Roark smiled at how well the Pokémon were fighting, but then noticed Tangi was staring off in a daze.

'_Just how did… He learn all that?_' He continued to stare off into the field and began attacking his brain mentally for answers. Flint ran past him trying to dodge another head butt. He glanced over at Tangi who was still spacey. One lost head butt from Cranidos and Flint knocked him into the ground behind him. Then, instead of chasing after at Roark's 'mon, he ran toward Tangi, jumped up slightly and smacked him across the face.

"Focus Tangi!" He looked up with a stern looked, then smiled as stupidly as Tangi would at him before returning all attention to the fight. Tangi just spaced out some more.

'_He really can… Wait; did he just smack me?_' Current events finally catching up to him in his head, Tangi turned and yelled at Flint, "Don't smack me!" Flint continued jumping backwards from Cranidos' stubborn attempts to hit him.

"Well, don't space out on me! Better yet," he jumped up and kicked Cranidos into the ground; causing further anger to build in the dinosaur. "How about instead of yelling nonsense, you yell orders!"

"Don't you yell at me! You just smacked me!"

"I'll do it again if you don't focus!" Everyone in the gym, save Cranidos, was gawking at the talking Charmeleon who was continuing to yell at his trainer. And the fact the trainer was yelling back didn't help them take in this fact.

'_Though he said he had minimal talking… Ugh, what am I doing?_' Roark shook his head and focused back on the battle. "Cranidos use Ice Beam!"

"Use WHAT?" Tangi and Flint shouted in union-sense. The dinosaur charged a blue-energy at his mouth and released it. Flint jumped to the side and, sure enough, ice formed where the beam had hit. Tangi shouted over to Roark in amazement.

"Awesome! How did you get him to learn Ice Beam?" Flint urked at him and muttered to himself.

"Don't be impressed by something that had almost hit me…" Roark chuckled.

"Cranidos is a special Rock-Type that can learn quite a handful of attacks. Ice Beam is just one of them. The next one is…" Cranidos smirked, suddenly glowing yellow. It took Tangi a moment to realize exactly what was to come.

"Flint; get in one of those holes!" He nodded and broke into a sprint, reaching a hole Onix had created in time to protect himself from the attack to come; Thunderbolt. Tangi sighed in relief and shouted back at Roark, "So why does a rock-type know Thunderbolt?" Roark crossed his arms and smiled.

"Quite simple really; most challengers come here with Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground or Steel-type Pokémon. Most Grass, Water and Fighting types are also fast. Cranidos uses speed and can use all moves that those types are weak to." Tangi nodded to himself; understanding how Roark's Pokémon was truly his ace. "But what strikes me odd is you used a Fire-Type. Could he be your last Pokémon? Or does he have some move I've yet to see yet?" Tangi looked up at Roark…

"Heh. Guess you caught on, eh? Do it Flint!" A crack formed from behind Cranidos.

"Cranidos, behind you!" Roark was indeed right that Flint was appearing behind Cranidos, but not when. After he turned around, the Charmeleon leaped out of the ground, claw glowing.

"Metal Claw!" Flint landed on the ground, causing Cranidos to turn back around; but, "Too slow," Tangi whispered. Flint had double back around him and struck him from behind. Cranidos was brought to his knees. He turned and released at Ice Beam; just hitting Flint on the tip of his paw. Ice started to form around it. Tangi cursed.

"Looks like a hit to me…" Roark smiled; thinking the worse was over. '_He's only struck before with the right paw. His left swing must not be reliable._' "Cranidos, Zen Head butt!" He leapt at Flint and knocked skulls with him; knocking him back a few feet.

'_Shit…_' Flint glared at the dinosaur; persistent to finish this match for Tangi. Flames started to gather at his mouth and Tangi had a feeling he knew what Flint was up to.

"You got a smart lizard Tangi, but Fire does nothing against Rocks!" Flint looked at him and smiled madly at him.

"Is that so?" He chomped down onto the ice surrounding his right paw; melting it away. He let his arm drop at first then swung it around, trying to see if it was still usable. After nodding to himself, he turned to Roark and shrugged.

"Flint." He turned toward Tangi. Tangi looked up from the ground and gave the same smile Flint was wearing on his face. "Nidhogg would have ended this match by now. Gonna be out classed by a Grass-Type?" Flint turned toward Tangi, stomped a foot and shook his fist wildly at him as he shouted obscenities at him. He laughed before finishing with; "Well, you know what you're doing I guess." Roark just sighed.

'_I can't tell if they're being serious or playing with me. But…_' he looked over at Cranidos. His first Pokémon he received. He had the utmost fate in him… But why did he feel like the match was over?

"Quit playing around!" Cranidos growled at Flint. He turned to him slowly.

"I'm talking with my trainer here," he said in Charmeleon; so only Cranidos could understand. Anger grew in him more.

"You think I care!?" He head butted a rock near where he was standing. Flint looked him down and sighed. He looked back at him in disgust.

"You're reminding me of a certain someone I hate." Flint was referring to himself; how he was when he was berserk. He though Cranidos was starting to become like that. "Fine. I'll take Tangi's advice." He closed his eyes and jumped backwards into a hole. Cranidos stayed where he was... waiting for him to reemerge. Although it wasn't Flint that came up. Rather, it was Flint's fire. Columns of flames began to face around the dinosaur. Roark shouted into the battlefield hopefully.

"Guess he didn't get the hint I shouted before Tangi!" Tangi smirked.

"No, he got it." Roark stared him down before returning his attention to the fire. Another circle of fire-columns emerged. Then another. They all sank back into the ground and formed a single one. As Cranidos waited in the center of them, not feeling phased at all by the flames, Flint popped out of the ground behind him. Before Roark could give a warning, Tangi shouted the command. "Metal Claw!"

Flint charged forward and smacked the 'mon in the back. Then again from the front, this time knocking him into the air. He bounced himself of the rock rubble Cranidos caused with his head and smacked him again. And again. And again. Then one final time; this time above the little dinosaur. Cranidos was sent crashing back into the ground as the pillar of fire died down…

"C-Cranidos is unable to battle! The winner is the challenger!"

Footnotes: … Expecting some "o.o;" expressions right now. Right then… Where to start.

First off, yes. Nidhogg is a good fighter. He's personality makes him prefer pranks over fights though. And with gecko's being able to cling to almost any surface, he makes a great "closed space" fighter against opponents that are stuck grounded.

Second; How Flint learned to Talk! Flint's "eye" effect makes him a better fighter because his eyes pick up patterns in his opponent's fighting. His hearing didn't become effects to an extreme until he evolved, but it's always been tuning into speech patterns. Since he was a Charmander, he's been hearing everything people's said to him. (And Oak is QUITE the foul mouth off screen.) That's where he got most of his "fowl language." Tangi kinda added to it. Now, his red eye has actually always been there. Like just a small speck of red that's hardly noticeable when he was a Charmander. When he evolved, his genetic information kicked in (like teen hormones) and triggered a partial Red Eye; anger use to be the main trigger, but he gained some control over it as Professor Burch said he could. After Tangi's "touching" speech toward Roark, he connected with his genes on a deeper level; giving him a full time red eye and kicking in his mimic ability to it's max. Expect to see him copying a lot of Tangi's personal traits now!

Chapter Preview: Tangi obtains the Coal Badge! After a small party at the PokéCenter, him and Flint have a heart-to-heart chat on the rooftop; only to be interrupted by our one and only Rebecca! Determined to find out what really happened to his arm, she joins Tangi (cough-against-his-will-cough) as they backtrack to Jubilife City… What awaits them there? Find out next chapter!

Team Status:

Flint Lv.25 Lv.26

Nidhogg Lv.12 Lv.15

Fenrir Lv.25 Lv.25


	11. Blackmail!

A/N**: Tangi**: Instead of a normal chapter today, I bring you an important announcement.

*ahem*

Fenrir is really… A middle age man- in a furry suit! *spiked-backhand to the face*

**Fenrir**: *wipes the blood off his hand-spike* Pay no mind to the now dying fool. Enjoy the chapter. *Flint runs in the picture with a med-pack as Tangi writes "No Regrets" with his blood and Nidhogg takes pictures of the "crime scene."*

Chapter 11 - The Snitch

Night had fallen over Oreburgh City. Trainers still within the town were rushing about; some sneaking in one last-minute shopping trip before the store closed. Others were seeking a room for the night. Nurse Joy stood outside of her PokéCenter to welcome any visitors coming in to stay the night, but she also had another mission. She looked over in the direction of the gym every so often to see if a patient of hers would be coming back. '_He's so impatient that he probably already left town,_' she thought to herself all day. Still, she just wanted to be sure…

"Hey!" Recognizing the voice shouting at her, she turned toward its source immediately. Walking down the road was Tangi, Fenrir, Flint and Nidhogg (who wasn't actually walking. He just sat on top of Tangi's head.) He waved her down and broke into a sprint. "Crack open the good stuff," he shouted at her. "We gotta celebrate!" He pulled out his badge case and waved it around in the air. After the streetlights reflected off it, she knew he had won his Coal Badge.

~ C-Cranidos is unable to battle! The winner is the challenger, Tangi!" Alex stammered with his words; not wanting to believe that Roark lost again. But he had to face the facts… Roark had no more Pokémon and Tangi still had all three of his still able to battle.

Tangi looked out toward the arena. Pieces of the ceiling laid all around, it having been broke during the match between Nidhogg and Roark's Onix. There were holes in the ground caused by the same match also. Scorch markers were on the ground surrounding the spot Cranidos was knocked out at… And there, still in the middle of it all, was Flint. He stood there since after Alex made his decision as a referee, just staring at his paws. '_Uh oh…_' He sighed and walked out toward him. When he got closer, he could here chuckling. Fear began to develop, but he quickly pushed the feeling out of his mind. "Flint." The Charmeleon turned around, smiling beaming across his face and still laughing slightly.

"We won," he managed to get out. They looked at each other for a moment before both of them started giggling insanely; like school girls that just saw the school playboy. Then they grabbed each other's hands and started to jump around in a circle, chanting repeatedly, "We won a gym match!"

"Well damn, pay no mind to me here!" They both faced Roark as he walked to them. "Not like it was at my expense or anything!" He started laughing which hinted at it being okay for them to laugh along with him.

"Alright, alright! Cheers and such out of the way… I have to ask something." He looked between Tangi and Flint, who were still laughing slightly. "Exactly how… Did he start talking," he finished by pointing at Flint.

"Simple." Tangi began… Few seconds passed but no explanation followed.

"Simple… How?" Tangi crossed his arms.

"Well… It's so simple…" He uncrossed his arms started scratching his head. "… That I can't think of a way to explain it!" Tangi chuckled slightly in hopes to lighten the mood. Roark just sighed and turned to Flint for an answer. He shrugged at first.

"I don't know. I always understood your language," he started. "Just I never really cared to try it myself till a few days ago… Hmm…" Flint crossed his arms this time. Tangi and Roark just stared at him in hopes he could explain better than his trainer. "… I guess… I can't think of a way to explain either!" Now it was his turn to laugh as the others sighed.

"Well, either way. You all won." Roark closed his eyes and smiled to himself. "Guess there's still a lot for me to do…" He looked up at the night sky that now replaced the view of his gym ceiling. "Right then! I'll meet you all outside in five minutes!" He bolted off toward a door in the back of the gym before Tangi and Flint could stop him.

"Wait!" Tangi shouted at him. "What about our-" he slammed the door behind him. "-badge." He stood there motionless in hopes Roark was just coming right back. Flint tugged on his shirt to get his attention.

"We didn't get a badge…"

"Yea, I know…" he sighed.

"No Tangi… You don't understand." He looked down at Flint. "We didn't get a badge… Meaning I did all that work for… What exactly?" He turned toward Tangi and glared him down; Tangi averting his gaze before he saw the glare. In a panic, he decided to make a diversion.

"Oh look! He's coming back now with the badge!" Flint turned back toward the doors Roark ran through; no change. He turned back to glare down Tangi again to see him gone. Turning to Alex, who was pointing to his left with a gloom expression on his face, he spotted Tangi as he reached the door to the entrance and ran out it. It was Flint's jaw's turn to drop now.

"Damn it! Get back here!" He bolted for the doors and down the steps to catch his "trainer."

"Okay, sorry about that!" Roark emerged from the doors that lead to the gym entrance hall. "I honestly didn't think I'd lose so I left the badge back in my roo- What happened to Tangi?" He finally looked down the steps to see no Tangi; just his Treecko and Charmeleon along with a Lucario he assumed to be his. Fenrir looked up at him and went to greet him.

"Hello, I'm Fenrir; Tangi's Lucario. Yes I can talk and no I didn't teach Flint anything except for two words. The reason behind which he can talk is strictly between Tangi and myself; he himself doesn't know for the moment." Roark just stared at him as he went on explaining. "As for the location of our trainer…"

~ "No Flint! I'm sorry!" Flint caught up with Tangi but only managed to smack the Pokéballs on his belt off; releasing Fenrir and Nidhogg. Tangi felt he was about to be rescued when Flint turned the tables.

"He called you an evil monster," he said pointed at Nidhogg. Then he pointed at Fenrir, "And the match is over; he didn't use you once." ~

"… It's complicated," Fenrir said after deciding that'd be the best answer. Roark looked past him and saw Tangi, legs and arms bound with rope. Flint was sitting on his back as Nidhogg doodled on his face with magic marker. Fenrir looked over his shoulder. "Huh. Damn. Guess we should have hid him better…"

After five minutes of convincing Nidhogg and Flint that he had been punished enough, Fenrir helped free Tangi from his restraints. "You all are the weirdest trainer and Pokémon team I've ever seen…" Roark was trying his best to restrain his roar of laughter he started upon looking down at Tangi from behind Fenrir. Tangi was still trying to scrub off the magic marker Nid had used on his face. "S-Still… 'Whatever works,' right?" He finished with one final chuckle.

"Yeah…" '_If I had my way right now, I'd swap them all out for Roark's Pokémon!_' Tangi thought sourly to himself. Then again… They'd only treat him this way if they really cared. (Or at least that's what he's been telling himself.) Roark held out his hand in front of Tangi; prompting him to stop scrubbing his cheek and look at the trophy of his desire; the Coal Badge.

"Here you are; the Coal Badge. One of the eight badges needed by trainers in order to skip the elimination tournament of the Pokémon League and face the Elite Four directly." Roark held his hand out in front of him, waiting for Tangi to take the badge. He began to reach for it…

"Roark, before I take this," Tangi started, "What did you mean before? That you act like 'him' with people like me." Roark looked at Tangi for a short time; using that time to go through his memory of when he said that.

"Oh. Right." He cleared his throat, "I was referring to my father who lives off in Canalave City. We disagree on everything but, well," he paused. "When we face a tough challenger, we get more aggressive. For that, I apologize. Especially for what I said about you and Flint." Roark took his hard hat off with his free hand, placed it over his heart and bowed toward Tangi and the gang. Tangi looked him over once more…

"Ah, cut the crap!" Roark tilted his head up so he could see Tangi's expression. He had both his eyes closed and was scratching the back of his head. "'What's said in a match stays with the match,' as they say, right?" He grinned and snatched the badge from Roark. "Besides! We still got this!" He turned around and started showing off to his Pokémon. Roark stood up straight, smiled at them and began walking back toward his gym. Half way up the steps, Tangi shouted to him. "Hey Roark!" He turned around toward Tangi again. "Do the town a favor and don't go emo in the mines again!" He picked up Nidhogg and places him on his head than broke into a run, shouting to his other two Pokémon, "Last one to the 'Center serves the drinks!"

Roark watched them run off toward the edge of town. "… Heh." He took his hat off once again, scratched his head and walked back to his gym. "Guess I'm going to have to repair the roof tomorrow." He started laughing as the night grew on. ~

"And that's how I got stuck with drink serving…" Tangi said with a sob as he walked away from the counter where Nurse Joy had brought him the tea to pour for his Pokémon. Nurse Joy giggled.

"Don't you mean, 'and that's how I received my Coal Badge,'?" Tangi just grunted as he was in the process of pouring the tea. He walked back toward the lobby where Nidhogg, after being patched up, was sitting oddly patiently in his seat next to Fenrir.

"… He didn't get up and set a trap, did he?" Fenrir looked over from the rim of his book.

"If he did, I didn't see it," he replied as he turned a page. Tangi sighed and left their drinks next to them. He looked around the lobby once more before he turned to Fenrir again.

"Did you at least see where Flint went?"

"He went outside. Try checking the roof." Fenrir grabbed his cup and sniffed it. "I wanted honey in the tea." Tangi took off the apron he was wearing and placed it on a chair.

"Oh, yeah… In a second." Tangi made for the door in a rather normal pace. Fenrir sighed, threatened to break Nidhogg's legs if he got up, then proceeded to go to the counter and ask Nurse Joy for honey for his tea. Nidhogg remained motionless… For his plan was already in action… "Son of a-!" *CRASH!* Tangi slipped on a wet spot on the floor and slid into the automatic doors that, for whatever "strange reason", were turned off. Nidhogg rolled in his seat laughing.

'_Freaking gecko almost killed me…_' Tangi thought bitterly to himself as he climbed up the ladder to the rooftop of the PokéCenter. Nurse Joy didn't normally leave it out so someone had to get it out. Someone like, "There you are." Flint was lying on his back in the middle of the roof staring up at the night sky. He tilted his head backwards as far as he could to spot Tangi. He grunted and continued on with his stargazing. Tangi stared for a moment, shrugged, and walked over to lie down next to Flint. There was no breeze and it was currently spring time in Sinnoh, making it a perfect night for doing just this.

"So… Why'd ya come up here by yourself?" Tangi turned his head toward Flint wearing his stupid grin.

"Just 'cause…" Flint seemed like he was in a daze. Tangi waited a bit before asking his next question.

"Something you wanna talk about?"

"Not really…"

"Sure?" Flint's gaze turned from more of staring at space to staring off at space. Tangi sighed and turned back to the sky. Silenced engulfed the two for what seemed like ages to Tangi. Until finally…

"Hey, Tangi… You seem to know a lot." He turned toward him to see Tangi with his "gloating-to-myself" expression on.

"Why, yes. I DO know a lot. Ahahah~!" Flint sighed and pondered on if he should even say what's on his mind. "So? Need to figure out something? Oh! Do you have a cru-" Flint snarled slightly at him.

"I bit your head when I was a Charmander for that. Don't think I won't do it again." Tangi just started laughing; Flint turning to him now out of curiosity.

"S-Sorry. Just… You're more open now I think, now that you can speak and all… I just like it." Tangi smirked to himself before returning to his stargazing. Flint lowered his gaze again.

"My eyes are red now." Tangi dropped his smirk and closed his eyes.

"Yeah. They've been like that since your fight with Cranidos."

"I know… I saw them reflected in the ice patch he made." They both sat there in the comfort that the night provided them for quite some time before Flint pounded his paw against the roof. "Just what the Hell am I…?" Tangi sighed.

"If someone knew who you were, would you want them to tell you? Or would you rather find out on your own; in your own way?" Flint turned to him and responded rather quickly.

"Tell me, obviously. Save my time and theirs!" Tangi broke into laughter.

"Well, that sounds like something I'd have said. But you know… If you have someone tell you, all you start to do is question how that person is smug enough to think they know you enough to judge you like that." Flint sighed; another one of Tangi's answers made up from his crazy logic… Although, he did agree with that person having to be pretty smug-…

"Oh my God, I'm thinking like you."

"Huh?" Flint rolled over onto his side and started beating his head with his paws.

"Must… Self… Induce… Brain… Trauma," he chanted between hits.

"Eh!? Hey! You're making it seem like a bad thing that we think alike!" Flint stopped for a moment before turning back to Tangi.

"It isn't?" Tangi shot up and attempted to kick him, but he was too quick in evading. "The Hell was that for?!"

"For insulting me! I think like a freaking genius; admit it!" Flint snorted rather loudly.

"You're a genius the day Fenrir stops beating your brain cells into nothing!" Tangi stomped his foot.

"Yea? Well your breath smells like ass! Hot, sweaty ass!" Flint stomped his foot this time.

"And how the Hell do you know what ass smells like, ass snifter!"

Nurse Joy sighed to herself. It had been fifteen minutes since Tangi and Flint had started yelling at each other on top of her roof and they were still going at it. She turned toward Fenrir, him being the only one awake that she could talk to about this matter. "Don't you think someone should go stop them?" Fenrir looked at her over his book before turning the page.

"They're guys. This is how guys bound without being touchie-feelie." She sighed.

"I don't see a problem with being 'touchie-feelie,' as you say." He chuckled.

"Of course you don't. Women normally don't; no offense." She put her hands on her hips and walked off toward the counter as the door beeped. Fenrir turned to his side to see if Nidhogg was still staying in place like a good little 'mon. Sure enough, Nid was still in his seat. Granted Tangi had tied him there after the water puddle incident. Still, neither of them were complaining; Fenrir was too busy reading and Nidhogg was too busy having duck tape stuck over his mouth.

"Excuse me, there seems to be a fight on your roof top Nurse Joy." The trainer that walked in had pointed out to her. She sighed before replying to her.

"Yes, my dear. I know… They're 'bonding like men' or something. I gave up on them just a minute ago actually. Do you need a room?" The trainer started to look around the lobby.

"Um… Yeah, please. If you have a single bed one, that'll be fi-" she stopped. She walked over toward Fenrir and the hostage-looking Nidhogg. "Fenrir?" He looked up from his book and, to his surprise, was Rebecca.

"Oh, Reb. How are you this evening?" She smiled at him and giggled.

"Aww, you don't have to be so polite!" She finally took notice of the Treecko. "Um… What's his story?" Fenrir looked over at Nid.

"Ah. Put quite simply… He's in time-out for setting a trap and leaving evidence to conclude that he did it." (Which there was no evidence. If he's in a 20 yard radius of where the prank happened, he's automatically assumed to be responsible.) Rebecca laughed nervously.

"So I guess he's with Tangi?" Fenrir nodded. The shouting grew louder from the rooftop. I guess that's him up there…" She sighed and walked toward the doors. "I'll be right back."

"Well I bet your father is really a Magikarp!" Tangi shouted back, seeming to be out of breath from all the shouting. Flint, looking like he was in the same condition, retorted back.

"How is that even physically possible?!" Tangi crossed his arms and chuckled to himself.

"Well well… If you're so smart, you'd know this. Would you not?"

"I wasn't the one that was self proclaiming I was a genius, idiot!"

"Watch what you say, or I might get personal… Fatzilla." Flint let out a gasp of shock; him being slightly overweight of normal Charmeleons.

"I-It's only like three pounds! No one notices that!" Tangi proceeded to play the villain part of this argument.

"No one except YOU. YOU have to live with the truth daily! That you're FAT. OUT OF SHAPE. Packing extra BLUBBER!"

"Punishment from the Reasonable!" Flint and Tangi stared at each other momentarily until both their heads were met with a metal stick. They both grabbed their heads and turned to face the new challenger; only to gasp in fright at the sight of Rebecca. Sighing, she put on a smile. "First off; hey Tangi. Hello Flint! Aww, you evolved! And even if you had a little pudge, which you don't, it'd just make you look more huggable! So don't listen to Tangi, sweetie!!" Tangi fake-gagged at the comfort she was trying to give Flint, where as Flint was soaking it in like when a sponge meets water. She cleared her throat. "Second off…" She smacked her stick against the ground before smacking them both upside the head again; this time knocking Tangi's head into Flints. "What in God's name are you two fighting about up here?!" Both boys were busy rubbing their heads now to ease the pain.

"We were just talking…" Tangi began. "Right Flint?" He nodded, then brought up what seemed to be the more pressing matter.

"Where did you get a metal stick?" Reb stared at Flint. "…What?" She dropped her stick and walked over to him. Fearing he was going to receive a beating, he put his arms out in front of him to try and block the blows. Only there were no blows; just Reb grabbing hold of him.

"OH MY GOD!" She suddenly started screeching in an overly happy and loud pitch voice in poor Flint's ear. Tangi, thankfully, had his hands free to cover his own ears. "When could you TALK!? OH MY GOD! It's so adorable!" She nuzzled her head against his face despite his best efforts to push her off him.

"Ta-Tangi! Help me~!" Silence… Followed by both Reb and Tangi squeezing poor Flint from over kawaii.

"Soooo cute~~!" Flint suddenly turned from a yellow-tinted Charmeleon to a yellow-tinted Charmeleon with a blue face…

"Oh, so he learned to talk today? That's amazing!" Rebecca had sat down and listened to Tangi's story of the gym match today (him leaving out how his eyes fully changed.) "He has such an adorable voice too," she giggled before sipping her tea.

"Eheh… I guess." Tangi looked over at Flint; who was lying down on the chairs from passed out due to lack of oxygen. He scratched at his head while doing so, causing Reb to finally notice his arm.

"Oh wow. What'd you do there?" Tangi started at her with a black expression for a moment, unsure as to what she was implying to. She finally pointed at his arm.

"Ah…" he grabbed it and held it close to him. Nurse Joy walking into the room without him noticing. "I went to visit the mines when I first got here," he started. Nurse Joy stopped where she was and turned to him. "Was a slight cave-in and my arm got damaged from it.

"Oh." She took a sip of her tea as did Tangi. He noticed Nurse Joy finally and got that sinking feeling about lying to Reb because of her being there. "The thing is," she started.

"Hmm?" He sounded while drinking his tea.

"People coming from Oreburgh a while back said that a boy was attacked by a yellow Charmeleon."

"PFFT!" Tangi spewed his tea out from his mouth while Reb began to drink hers without too much shock from the reaction. "Th-That's oddly precise to be true, don't you agree? I mean, there could be multiple Charmeleons that are yellow! Right?"

"According to my information, there's only been one in town for five days. And you've been here for how long?" Tangi looked from her to Nurse Joy for some support. "Don't look at her. She's the informant." Tangi's jaw dropped.

"I'm sorry Tangi, but she said she was a friend of yours. And you said you only didn't want your mother to find out." Reb turned her gaze to Joy from the corner of her eyes.

"Did he tell you not to tell Professor Rowan also?" Joy shook her head. "I see…" She focused back on Tangi. "Tangi, I have a request from Rowan that if Flint is in fact a danger, I'm to escort you back to Sandgem. I can't ignore that Tangi… The professor's done too much to help me for me to do that." Tangi shot up from his set and glared her down.

"… For your sake, you better have more than that metal pole to convince me with." She stood up, looking at him smugly but slightly hurt.

"Are you threatening me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Warning you; there's a difference." They both stood there staring each other down…

-SMACK- Tangi's face scrunched up suddenly. Reb didn't know what to make of it until she saw him grab his arm and "walk" away. She looked down and saw Flint was awake; he smacked Tangi's arm to calm him down. "Don't expect me to do that again though… I'm the one that caused that, as you already know…" She looked down at him as he laid there.

"You don't seem that sad about it." Tangi interrupted this time.

"Because he knows if he gets sad about it, I'll notice." He turned back to them after gaining his posture. "Right?" Flint stuck his tongue out at him.

"He doesn't let me get sad about it." Flint sat up and turned toward Reb again. "So, I have to go back with you, right?" She looked him down… Not sure what to make of the situation. Tangi was about to speak but she walked away toward the phone booth. It was ten at night. Who was she calling at this time of night…?

"Oh." Tangi and Flint both got up and walked behind her. She was going to do it…

"Hello Rebecca. Oh, I see you found Tangi. Is Flint with him?" Professor Rowan stood at his photo-phone monitor still dressing in his lab coat. He looked downward and spotted Flint. "Hmm… His eyes were blue before, were they not Tangi?" Tangi was about to speak up when Rebecca beat him to it.

"Sir, I located Tangi in Oreburgh City. He's assembled a team consisting of a Lucario and a Treecko; along with Flint, who he received from you. He's spent five days here. Four of them being hospitalized." Professor Rowan cocked a brow to this.

"And the reason for that was…?" She took a deep breath before continuing with her report; which Tangi thought she was doing rather professionally. Even if it was to rat him and Flint out.

"Tangi had paid a visit to the local mine in town to search for the gym leader Roark. His arm was harmed in a minor cave in." Flint and Tangi turned to each other then back to the screen. Rowan obviously picked up a hint of suspicion.

"Well he seems well now… Anything else you care to share?" He made certain to raise his tone slightly at the end; hinting that any dishonest answer would be punishable. Rebecca thought for a moment then continued on with the report.

"Well, on a happier note, Flint had evolved. And he won his gym badge here thanks to him." She smiled innocently at the Professor. He stared at the three for a moment before turning to face Tangi.

"Anything you would care to add Tangi? Something you've noticed with Flint perhaps? Or maybe why you disobeyed my request to stay at home?" Tangi gulped before his response.

"Well… I ignored you because I thought it would be better for Flint and me." He closed his eyes before continuing; hoping that he couldn't tell if anything was a lie or not that way. "Flint can't grow in a closed environment such as the lab as he could if we traveled… And the only thing else I have to report about Flint is that he's an excellent fighter, sir." He opened his eyes at the end; everything he said was indeed true. He just hopped Rowan couldn't pick at what Reb said from him. He looked between the two and Flint then back at them before smiling.

"Well, that's a load off my chest. I'll be sure to tell your mother that you're fine." Tangi nodded to him.

"Oh, can you not tell her about my arm please?" He returned the request with a stern look. Tangi decided to beg. "Please sir? I don't want her worrying about me! I can tell her when it becomes a bit better!"

"… Very well. Now, if that's everything, I shall be off to bed." Reb and Tangi nodded. "Understood. Do keep in touch you two. And you take care there Flint." Flint looked at him then grinned at him.

"Sure thing sir!" Rowan's eyes widened but Flint smacked the [END TALK] button. Tangi and Reb turned to him in terror as he walked away whistling. She sighed and turned to Tangi.

"He gets that from you, you realize." Tangi turned to her offended.

"Hey, I was very polite to the professor! And why are you talking like he's a child or something?" Tangi walked over to Flint. They nodded to each other and turned back to Rebecca before saying in union-sense…

"Ugly hag!" They pulled their under eyelids down and stuck their tongues at her. She stared for a moment before grabbing her stick again and smacking them across the heads.

"Are you forgetting who has dirt on you? I can call Rowan up right now…" she started before opening her eyes again. The two of them were already on their knees in a begging position. She was about to speak up when -BAM-!

"You were supposed to be asleep an hour ago so you can wake up on time for training Tangi." Fenrir and Nidhogg had decided to check on Tangi together (mainly because Fenrir couldn't trust Nidhogg alone.)

"You see Fenrir," he said as he sat up. "There is a very good and uncomplicated reason as to why I'm not asleep yet. The reason is-"

"That I didn't hit you hard enough." -BAM- Aura Sphere stacked on top of a Force Palm at once sent Tangi skidding across the floor and into a pillar of the PokéCenter. Flint ran over and, sure enough, Tangi was out cold. Fenrir walked up behind him and threatened, "Unless you want to look like him right now, help me carry him to bed…" Flint urked and proceeded with what the Lucario demanded. Rebecca just sat there and watched in horror as Tangi's Pokémon basically ran his life.

"… On that note, I think I shall go to sleep also…" Rebecca stood up and followed them down the hallway to the bedrooms; her room being across of Tangi's. After saying good night, they parted ways.

Morning came and Rebecca, as always, liked to awaken early. She got up, did her morning stretches, and freshened up within a ten minute span; just as always. What she did differently this morning routine was peek into Tangi's room. She looked around and, much to her surprise; Flint and Tangi were still asleep in their bed. '_Aww, it's cute how they share a bed,_' she thought to herself . She closed the door and began walking down the hallway when it dawned on her. '_Wasn't him being knocked out cold all for getting up this early?_' She looked at her Pokétch. 6:15 Am. "Why is he still in bed then?"

"I let him sleep in is why." Reb turned around and finally noticed Fenrir had followed her.

"O-Oh. Good Morning." She smiled as best as she could without showing how freaked out she was. '_Exactly how long was he following me…_' He walked past her to the main lobby.

"He had a rough week so I thought he could use another hour in bed before we hit the road again." Reb stopped in place.

'_Travel… Hmm._' An idea formed in her head; one even she thought was too cruel. And yet…

"All right!" Tangi started doing squats outside; Flint and Nidhogg joining along. "So today, we have to double back to Jubilife City, then head North and get to Floaroma Town before nightfall!" He grabbed his Pokéballs off his belt and pressed the return buttons on all of them. After placing them back securely, he bowed to the PokéCenter and proceeded on his way.

"Wait! Tangi, wait!" He turned around to be met by Rebecca; who seem to be in a rush herself. She stood up straight and smiled at Tangi. "Don't forget about me, partner!" Tangi stared at her in a confused expression.

"Partner? Since when?" He laughed and turned his back to her.

"'Oh Professor Rowan! I so desperately wanted to tell you the truth about Flint, but Tangi said if I didn't cover for him, he'd take my Pokémon from me and flee!'" Tangi stopped mid step. He turned ever so slowly to Rebecca while stuttering his words.

"W-w-w-what did you say," he finished saying as he finally faced her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Of course I'd never actually say that to the professor… Provided you let me come with you." Before he could speak up however, she giggled. "And you wouldn't dare threaten me back knowing I have a Pokétch with a voice recorder! One wrong sentence, and I might accidentally press record~!" Tangi just let his jaw hang in place. "No arguments? Great! Let's get going! The sun isn't going to stay up all day! And, like you said, we need to get to Floaroma Town!" She skipped ahead while humming to herself. Tangi let everything soak in for a moment before shouting…

"What the Hell just happened!?"

Footnotes: "What the Hell just happened!?" indeed! And that brings on another question; if you quote yourself in say a paper, do you have to list yourself as a source? Also, I said that they'd be in Jubilife city by now in last chapter, yeah? Yeah… I'm bad at obeying my previews… SO! Let's keep to tradition, shall we!?

Chapter Preview: Tangi and Rebecca make it to Jubilife City without any troubles. However, when Rebecca hears of a sale in town… The last thing she wants to do is leave town again. And if Tangi ditches her… She squeals. Then again… It might be a good thing that he's forced to stay; Rowan comes to town and the baddies finally show themselves!

Next time: Team Galactic? Like That Atari Game?

~While on the Road~

**Tangi**: _Ugh, what a bummer… Can't believe I have to travel with her… This is going to cut down the time I could use to collect badges… _*blink blink* _That reminds me… _Hey, Rebecca?

**Reb: **Hmm?

**Tangi**: You're collecting badges, right?

**Reb: **Yes, why?

**Tangi**: _Chansu!_ (Japanese for Chance!) Then you should go back and get your Coal Badge! You really should get that one first! And I'll wait for you in Jubilife City!

**Reb**: *giggle* Aww, thanks for worrying about me Tangi! But, I already have my badge! *digs in bag and pulls case out, revealing Coal Badge*

**Tangi**: *mouth drops open*

**Reb**: Yea, funny story really. I wiped the floor with the gym leader only using one Pokémon! Hazru ended up using two when I watched him; but anyway! Roark got so upset he left without giving me my badge! One of his lackey trainers had to get it for me!

**Tangi**: _So she was the one that made Roark go into a depression… Scary…_


	12. Galactic? Like That Game?

A/N: I hope the explanation filler helped answer some questions… Idk, I feel like it might have made things more confusing… . ANYWHO! The reason I didn't type as a separate story is because I didn't want people finding and being all "wtf is this for" and click "Report as Spam" or something like that. Come to think of it, does even have one of those…? Oh well!

Chapter 12: Galactic? Like That Game?

"All right! First, we'll restock on our items before breaking for an early lunch, then head right for Floaroma Town! Sound good to you?"

"Tell me again why I'm taking orders from you…" It was nearly eight o'clock and the streets of Jubilife City were quite pack for the morning time. Tangi and Rebecca walked down its streets trying to reach the main square. Tangi despised the fact that Reb, of all people, was bossing him around. '_I wouldn't mind traveling with her so much if she wasn't blackmailing me,_' he thought bitterly. Reb had figured out the truth of how Tangi's right arm had become injured and had told him not an hour ago that if he didn't let her come with him, she would spill the beans to Professor Rowan. She looked over her shoulder at him.

"Did you say something?" Tangi shook his head no and faced away from her. She turned back around with a sigh. '_I wouldn't REALLY rat him out… But now at least he has a reason to not ditch me._' She suddenly came to a stop; Tangi bumping into her from not paying attention.

"Something wrong?" She let her bag strap slide off her shoulder and onto the ground. Tangi stared at it for a second before walking up next to her. He waved his hand in front of her face only to receive her pointing at something ahead of her as an answer. He faced forward… "Oh, please tell me that's not the reason…"

**HUGE BLOW OUT SALE! Everything from PokéDolls to Furnishings! One Day Only!**

Reb proceeded to squeal as Tangi smacked his forehead. She bent down to pick her bag up, threw the strap back over her shoulder and turned to Tangi. "Gimme your bag and Flint." Tangi shot his arms in the air.

"What for!?" She stared at him with the common "isn't it obvious?" expression.

"I'll restock your potions and stuff. And Flint's going to be a secret!" Tangi crossed his arms and shook his head.

"The bag is fine. Flint's staying with me though!" A moment passed before he heard sobbing. He looked down at Reb.

"P-p-professor… Tangi is just-" she didn't even have to finish her sentence for him to give her his bag. She smiled at him. "Now Flint!" He grunted at her.

"One sec…" He grabbed Flint's Pokéball off his belt and pressed the release button. Out popped the Charmeleon who just looked up between the two. Reb was giving her "aww" expression and Tangi was rubbing one of his temples with his free hand. He kneeled down to eye level with Flint and whispered to him, "Listen buddy… She's up to something and it has something to do with that bargain sale going on…" Flint just blinked a few times.

"What's a bargain sale?" Tangi sighed.

"It's stupid really. Basically, if you are a woman and there is something that cost less than normal, a sudden urge builds up in you until you cave in and buy it. Or something," Tangi finished as he tried to quote what his mother said to him when he was younger. "She wants to take you along for whatever reason." Flint just cocked his head at this.

"Maybe she just wants to get to know me?"

"Nah, can't be that simple. There is always another motive with women. Especially Reb…" Flint sighed and raised his paws in the air.

"Can't be helped I guess." He turned to Reb and put on his best smile. "Reb!" She stuck her hands over her mouth and squealed before grabbing Flint; much like a battle cry before striking her prey down. And, despite how much he weighed (45lbs.), she picked him up and started running with him as if he weighed nothing. Tangi shot up and reached out for Flint.

"Don't worry! We'll be back in an hour or so!" With that, and the few seconds of laughter from her being all Tangi could make out from over the noises of the crowd, they were gone. He stood there and stared at the last place he saw them before they vanished into the masses…

"… They'll be fine," he said to try to reinsure himself. Then it struck him; this was the first time he was separated from Flint since he got him. Well, the first time he left Flint with someone that he only had a vague idea of where they would be. '_At least with the PokéCenters, I knew he'd be in one room with a Nurse Joy…_' Then all sorts of questions started popping into Tangi's mind. '_What if he gets hurt when I'm not there? What if someone decides to steal him?_' Then the worst one came to mind; one that was so terrible, he ended up shouting it. "What if Rebecca tries to trade him when she's out of cash!?" People from the crowd turned and stared at him as they kept on walking to their destination.

"Oh, I want some of those Super Potions! How much for the value pack again sir?" Rebecca and Flint were in some building that he didn't care to be in; it was cramp and there were people staring at him. Did he want to leave? Yes. Could he? No. At least not while holding seven- scratch that. Eight bags now. He so much wanted to just burn the merchandise and walk out of here, but he was stuck with Reb.

'_It's not -too- bad. Once you get past the staring… And the luggage…_'

"Here, Flint! Hold this!"

'… _I wanna go back to Tangi now,_' he moaned to himself.

"Huh. I see they repaired the building since I've been here." Tangi decided that, after telling himself enough times she would not trade Flint, his 'Mon was safe in the hands of his blackmailer. Afterwards, he decided that, since he didn't want to walk into the forest of people and that staying in that one spot would make him look suspicious, he waltzed on over to the PokéCenter to pay Nurse Joy a visit. '_I did kinda leave suddenly that morning,_' he thought as he walked up the steps. He walked up to the doors as they opened for him; some kids darting past him as he entered.

"Oh! Tangi!" He turned and smiled at Nurse Joy as she walked over to him; her Chansey not far behind. "Stopped by for a visit, have we?" He laughed slightly.

"Yea, well," he began. "The last time I was here, there was a giant crack in the wall and broken glass outside from a window!" She placed her hands behind her back and leaned toward him.

"Don't forget about that young tree that was cracked nearly in two!" He looked away from her and scratched the side of his face with a finger out of embarrassment. She giggled and stood up straight again. "So is that for a fashion statement or are you honestly hurt?"

"Oh, just something I got in Oreburgh is all. Nothing big," he finished and waved his arm around to show it was okay. "Speaking of which, I got something else too- Oh." Tangi had reached around to pull his bag off his back when he suddenly remembered that Reb took it. Nurse Joy looked at him, curiosity rising. "Err… Well, I DID have a badge case with my Coal Badge… But Reb took my bag," he finished with a sigh. Nurse Joy giggled.

"She did say she was going to go find you when I last saw her. So you two are traveling together now?" Tangi nodded in agreement, figuring it best not to go into detail. "Well, that's sweet." She giggled and walked back to the counter.

'_What'd she mean by that?_' Tangi sighed and followed her. He had and hour or so to kill. He might as well spend it talking to someone he knew.

"R-Reb… Can we take a break?" Rebecca had on her person her bag, Tangi's backpack, and one shopping bag for each arm. Flint, however, had four bags hanging on each of his arms, two in each paw and he had to balance a few boxes that he had to clamp his arms together in order to keep a grip on them. Rebecca turned around and cracked a smile at him.

"Sure, sure. It will give me time to pack some of the items in our bags. Come on, this way!" She led Flint over to a bench outside where he could finally drop his haul off and let his limbs rest. Reb dropped her bag and Tangi's bag onto the ground and opened all the pockets so she could see how much room she had to work with. "Had me the bag closest to your left Flint." He obeyed, and she started to pack away the contents into the packs. Flint let out a sigh of relief.

"Next time you want to do some shopping, take Tangi with you." He felt sore all over.

"You don't think it was good training?" He turned his head the best he could to her; his neck being sore also. "You worked your legs by always standing and constantly moving. Your arms were always being used so you worked the muscles in them. Aren't those two key things for a guy to train?" Flint turned back away from her and looked up at the sky.

"Well… I guess." Reb turned to him. "Tangi never really did serious training. We just never had a need for it I guess," he trailed off as he spoke and looked down at his feet. He began curling his toe-claws to find even those hurt slightly. He sighed. "Your training makes me sore all over."

"Heh, sorry." She reached over him and grabbed a second bag. "I think these should last us a good while. Food, medicines, tools. I made sure not to waste any cash for pointless things." She turned her head to Flint and cracked a smile. "Which very well might surprise Tangi, eh?"

"Humph," Flint said with a smirk. "Was that your alternate motive? Try to impress Tangi?" Reb blushed and turned back to the bags.

"O-Of course not! I… I just don't want him mad at me." She began to explain to Flint how she pretty much blackmailed him by telling him she would tell Professor Rowan about his arm. "Please don't be angry at me too Flint… I just… Didn't want him to be by himself." Flint kept looking down at his toes.

"But he has us. He has Fenrir and Nid. And he has me. Well, had… You kinda stole me." Reb sighed.

"Yes, but I meant alone as in him not being around other humans." Flint looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"How is him being with humans any different from being with me? I can listen and talk to him. I'm willing to do things with him." Reb stopped her packing for a moment before she continued on.

"I'm not sure how to answer that… But I feel like he should have another human with him. It's women's intuition."

"Meaning?"

"That men aren't allowed to question it! That's what it means!" She snatched another bag away from Flint and began unpacking that. He lifted his arms and let out a loud sigh.

"Women are complicated…" Reb suddenly shot up and started walking away. Flint questioned if he should get up to, but she had only gone a few feet before stopping in front of a large box. When she came back, she had a bottle of water in her hand. She twisted the cap off and handed it to him. "… You know, water would normally be bad for a Fire-Ty-"

"Drink it or you're going in the first trash bin I can find." He obeyed without question.

'_One hour and ten minutes…_' Tangi had left the PokéCenter only a few minutes ago, thinking he'd give Reb and Flint some extra time to get to where they separated since the market was bound to be just as crowded as the streets. '_Was nice to see that Nurse Joy was doing well,_' he thought with a smile. Her PokéCenter was getting busier due to so many trainers coming to town for the sale.

Few minutes later and still no sign of them. "Just what are they doing…?" He began to pace around, trying to kill time. It only made the waiting seem longer. Few more minutes and finally he grew tired of pacing around. "That's it! If she doesn't show up soon, I'm gonna tell her to-"

"Hand over your Pokémon Research data and we'll let you go peaceful-like!" Tangi blinked a few times.

'_Not exactly what I was thinking…_' He turned around and spotted some people in jumpsuits. Their hair color was blue and they seemed to be surrounding an older man. "He kinda looks like… Oh shit." Tangi bolted over to their direction.

"We're not saying it again, old man! Give us your data on Pokémon evolution or some things are going to go down. Ya hear?" The taller thug took a step toward Professor Rowan. When he didn't back away, the shorter one took his turn to make deals.

"Listen, we're more than willing to leave. If you give us even on tiny sample of what you're researching, we'll let ya go." Rowan chuckled.

"If you honestly think I'd carry something as important as my research on my person, I'd suggest you come back when you gain some common sense." The taller thug grabbed the professor by the shirt and pulled him closer him.

"Listen, gramps," he began with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Give us what we want or you'll be eating an-"

"Aura Sphere!" All three of the men froze until the one grabbing Rowan was sent toppling over from a blue sphere. He quickly sat up though and looked toward his attacker. "Huh? He's not out cold. Why do I get the feeling you hit him lighter than you do with me, Fenrir?" Tangi walked up beside the Lucario, placed his elbow on his shoulder, and proceeded to lean on Fenrir.

"First off," he started as he lifted Tangi's elbow off him. He let it go and Tangi quickly lost his balance. "Don't do that. Second, you're obviously paranoid. I hit everyone the same because I don't discriminate." It was Tangi's turn to be the angry one rather than the grunt.

"So you're saying I take it harder cause I'm weaker than the space man?!" Fenrir sighed.

"Only if you take it that way." Yelling ensued between the two as Rowan and the two grunts stared at the pair. The taller one finally got fed up.

"UGH! ENOUGH! Listen brats!" Tangi and Fenrir turned to him; Tangi because it something was finally happening and Fenrir for being grouped as a brat with Tangi. "This is an ADULT conversation! So I suggest you buzz off, or we'll just have to make you go to sleep for a while." Tangi and Fenrir stared at them before turning to each other and breaking out into laughter.

"H-h-he threatened us! What an idiot!" Tangi started laughing harder and slapped his knee. Fenrir wiped a tear from his left eye.

"'…Or we'll just have to make you go to sleep…!'" They both started laughing harder, Fenrir managing to spit out, "Only if you keep talking!" Both grunts stared at them infuriated, where as Rowan was chuckling slightly behind his fist. They both reached behind them and pulled out a Pokéball. Tangi caught sight of this and whistled.

"I see we got us a fight Fenrir~! Too bad Flint isn't here." He sighed again and looked over at where they were suppose to meet him and Reb. "She sure is taking her time shopping." Fenrir just grunted at him.

"At least I finally get a fight. You do realize I haven't been in one fight since I joined you." Tangi thought on this for a moment.

"… Oh yea. I guess you're right. Okay!" He turned back to the grunts; realization sinking in. "Wait, there's two of them. Should I get Nid too?" Fenrir shook his head.

"Nah, I'm feeling out of practice. One vs. Two sounds fair enough." Tangi smirked at him then turned toward the creeps.

"Glameow!"

"Stunky!" A cat-like and skunk-like Pokémon appeared. Both Fenrir and Tangi just stared at the pair, then turned their backs to them.

"You know," Fenrir whispered, "you might as well get Nid out… Those don't look fun enough for me to try against solo." Tangi nodded in agreement.

"Yea, I hear you. I mean... A skunk and a cat? How evil can these guys be?"

"We… We can hear you loud and clear over here…" Both of them turned to face the grunts, then turned back away from them and tried to continue with their chatting. "You son of a bi-"

"Pole of Censorship!" *WHAM* A metal pole smacked clean into the shorter grunt's mouth; causing a tooth to drop to the ground. Rebecca had suddenly entered the scene; along with her infamous collapsing metal pole. "It's rude to curse in front of a lady!" She swung the stick to her side, blood falling off it, then collapsed it and stuck it in her pocket. She turned to Tangi and gave him a thumbs-up. "Pocket-sized protection is a must!" He just stared at her with a face of dread.

"You…" he stammered. "You renamed the pole I see…" Last time he saw it, it was used for her "Punishment of the Reasonable" attack just last night. "Wait… Where's Flint?" His fear from before came to mind. Without thinking, he shouted at her, "What did you trade him for!?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"I didn't trade him for anything! He's right there!" Fenrir and Tangi looked behind them; Fenrir breaking into laughter and Tangi's face overcome with horror. Flint was stuck with carrying the backpack, Reb's pack and a few extra bags. Then they both shouted the same thing, but in rather different tones.

"She… She used him for touting!" When he finally made it back to Tangi, Flint fell forward onto his knees and then on his stomach. Tangi kneeled down in disbelief; Flint grabbed at his knee.

"End my life Tangi… I never want to go through that again… Please…" he repeated in sobs. Tangi pulled him up and held him tight.

"Don't worry; I'll never let this happen again boy… But please… Please don't give up on life!"

"Ta-Tangi…" Reb squealed yet again.

"Oh, this is just like one of my manga books! Granted both men were humans…" Tangi, Flint and Fenrir all froze. Flint and Tangi pushed themselves away from each other and Fenrir broke into harder laughter; finally dropping to a knee and beating the ground with a paw. The grunts finally grew bored of waiting…

"ENOUGH! Stunky; Poison Sting!" The skunk's tail flared up and began launching purple needles at the gang. Flint dropped the extra weight of the luggage, shoved Tangi out of the way and leaped backwards in time to avoid the attack. Fenrir jumped for Rebecca and moved both of them to safety. Tangi shot back up.

"That's it; Fenrir! Get the skunk! And Flint, you-" Flint was sprawled out on the ground now, laying on his back and muttering 'it hurts'. "… Right then, you uh… You stay there…" He turned his attention to Reb. "Just what the Hell did you make him carry!?" She brushed herself off and shouted back as she stood up.

"Just a bag or two!"

"Or twelve…" he muttered. "And four boxes. And the packs on the way back. And-" she glared at him and he caught notice of this, thus falling silent...

"Glameow, Shadow Claw!" The Pokémon lunged for Reb, to which she responded with…

"Blake!" She tossed a Pokéball and *pop* out came a Torchic. "Okay Blake, Ember!" The little chick released its barrage of fire on the cat; causing the four-legged feline to back away slightly.

'_Well, at least she can fight…_' "Fenrir! Aura Sphere Stunky!" He primed a sphere then ran up to the skunk.

"Poison Sting!" Another set of needles were launched from its tail; but Fenrir knocked them away with his sphere. He leapt over his target and released his attack; the pressure behind it was enough to press the Stunky so hard into the sidewalk that it began to crack under it. "Gah, damn it!" The grunt returned his Pokémon. "Hey, I'm out of Pokémon! What about you-" Blake jumped into the Glameow with a Peck attack; finishing the round between them. Both grunts let their jaws drop. Tangi grinned evilly.

"Reb, gimme that stick." She stared at him confused but obeyed. He stretched it to full length and threw it at Fenrir. "You know what to do~." He looked at the pole for a moment before it caught on. Grinning madly, he bolted up to the two grunts and knocked them out cold.

Rowan had witnessed the whole thing, but he still couldn't believe how well his trainers did. Both their Pokémon seem to have taken no damage; unnoticable if any. They commanded both of their Pokémon very well and they listened to all orders given to them. The only thing that was bothering him now was-

"Tangi! Put his wallet back!"

"What? He's not going to need the cash in jail!" Reb walked up and smacked him across the face. "A-All right! I'll put it back!" He shoved the money back into the wallet, then that into the taller grunt's pocket. Fenrir walked back to Reb and collapsed the pole before handing it back to her. "Say, where'd you get the Torchic anyway? From the Battle Tent?" She nodded.

"Kind of. I got my gym badge and was waiting for you to be cleared by Nurse Joy back in Oreburgh. I went back and the tent from before was still there so I tried it out." Blake ran up to his trainer and jumped into her arms, prompting her to hug him. "I won some special match thing and I got this little guy. Isn't he just a sweetie!?" Tangi smiled but then Flint's moaning caught his attention.

"Ah! Flint!" He ran over to aid his friend, only to be stopped by him.

"Don't… Can't take… Anymore of Reb's… References." Tangi paused for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Okay, I'll patch you up when she's busy or something. I'm so sorry…" He grabbed Flint's Pokéball off his belt and hit the return button. "While I'm at it Fenrir, might as well get you too." Fenrir nodded and Tangi returned him also. When he walked back over to Reb, she had already placed Blake back into his ball. Tangi nodded and went to grab his backpack.

"Now just a moment you two…" They both turned toward Professor Rowan; finally giving his existence at the scene notice. "That really was rather brilliantly fought. Really, bravo." He applauded at them. Tangi scratched the back of his head and Reb just put her hands behind her back and smiled.

"Do you know what they wanted, Professor?" He nodded.

"They wanted my research data on evolution. For what, I'm not sure… But they did say they were called Team Galactic." Tangi turned to him.

"What, like that video game?" Reb stepped on his foot but Rowan just chuckled.

"No, no. I don't believe so… Are you two in a rush? We could go for lunch and chat. I'm rather interested in your travels and-"

"We'd love to! Right Tangi?" He sighed.

"Yes, we'd love to… But we have to get to Floaroma Town sir. Please try to understand." Reb attempted to step on his foot again, but he moved it out of the way that time. Rowan nodded.

"Hmm, yes. You both have to collect your badges still. I understand." He smiled and walked past them. "Don't worry; I'll contact Officer Jenny for these two." Tangi nodded and headed for the gate just past where they had their battle. Reb looked between him and Rowan, trying to decide whom to go with. "Go on, my dear." She turned to face the Professor. "I walked here by myself. I think I can manage to go home just the same."

"Hmm, alright." She grabbed her pack and started to make chase after Tangi when Rowan stopped her again.

"Reb." She turned around and just kept at jogging in place. "You're alone now. Is there something you'd like to say that you couldn't last night? Perhaps… About Flint?" Reb's heart sank… She wasn't sure if she could lie to the Professor's face. Over the pictophone was hard enough.

"… That Flint's a sweetheart. I'll explain to you how he got to talking when I figure that bit out for myself Professor. Bye!" She bolted off with that, hoping Rowan wouldn't catch onto anything strange. He smiled and walked away.

"Now which way was the police station…"

Route 204 was a strangely peaceful walk for Tangi and Reb. Neither of them talked much except when Reb wanted to confirm that they were indeed going the right way and when they'd break for lunch. In which case, the only responses were "Of course we are!" and "We already ate..."

'_He's acting so distance right now… What's his problem?_' Reb tried to keep a few feet between Tangi and herself so he wouldn't think about turning around to check on her. She was worried that maybe he'd always been distant…? No, he seemed more open when they first met. He still made jokes like before but he seemed to get angry easier to her. '_Not that I actually know him… I don't know, maybe I'm being deluded in thinking he'd want friends._' A sudden childhood memory popped in mind; one she instantly tried to shake off.

"Hey." She jerked in fright from being pulled out of her thoughts.

"Y-Yes!?" Tangi turned around and proceeded to walk backwards.

"Thanks." She cocked his head at her. "For doing the shopping I mean." He turned back around and started walking normally again. "Just don't drag my Pokémon along for your chores though! If you need to work someone, just ask me." A ray of hope shun down from the Heavens.

"Does this mean I'll be shopping for us more often?" He sighed and proceeded to do his nervous-head scratching.

"Well, you still got me under your thumb, so to speak. Not like I have a choice!" Her expression dropped but quickly changed to a smile; she knew he meant well.

One cave trip later, with Rebecca constantly trying to shake the feeling that something was following them, Tangi and her had reached the outskirts of Floaroma Town. "I'm telling you Tangi," she said with a hint of terror in her voice still, "that something was totally following us in there. Still feels like it…"

"Ah, you're being hysterical," he stated bluntly. "Why would something stalk us? We're not that special looking, right?" He dug through his pants pocket and materialized his Pokédex. "I mean, this is the most valuable thing I got on me I think-" *shunk* "… Eh!?"

"Ah! Tangi!" He turned to Reb, and then to the direction she was pointing off to. There, on a rock, was his Pokédex. But it was in the jaws of a…

"Toto-Toto-Toto~dile!

Footnotes: OH SNAP! A TOTODILE! But who's going to catch it…? Also, Reb will, indeed, be staying with Tangi for a vast majority of his travels; if not all of it. And I decided that Rebecca as one of those "fan girls" that obsesses with yaoi pairings (I'm talking to you people on this website! And a few girls I remember from high school…) it'd make for more fun. She's defiantly going to be a fun character to get everyone use to lol

Chapter Preview: Just as Tangi and Rebecca were so close to reaching Floaroma Town, a Totodile sudden stanches his Pokédex! Tangi wants to catch it to get his 'dex back and because of Totodile's final evolution, but Reb wants it because "It's soooooo cute!"

~What went through Rebecca's mind when they stopped for Lunch~

**Flint**: Oh, Tangi… I just can't possibly muster the strength to feed myself… Forgive me.

**Tangi**: *sigh* Don't say such a silly thing. You have nothing to apologize for. Here, allow me to feed you… *pours some soup in his mouth and grabs Flint*

**Flint: **Oh, Tangi…

~What REALLY happened~

**Flint**: Damn it! How the frick do you hold a spoon!?

**Tangi**: It would help if you had thumbs. Here, hold on. *pours soup into a cup* There, drink it.

**Flint**: Sweet, thanks.

**Rebecca**: *sighs and places hand on cheek* My version was much sexier…

**Flint**: ………… o.o;;

**Tangi**: ………… o.o;;

**Fenrir**: *chokes on his drink and rolls over laughing*

**Nidhogg**: *joins Fenrir in the laughter; not sure what is going on though.*

**Blake**: Is she always like that?

**Bruce**: Yup. You get use to it somewhat fast… However sad that might be.


	13. Just a Repeat

A/N: Rawr! I think I like those little "chat log" strips at the end of my chapters. I tend to make a few serious points when typing these (at least I like to think that!) Also, to answer Lopunnu's question about why all the starters, I said at the end of chapter five that I didn't want to wait for Pal Park lol. Tangi's team will consist of three starters; same for Hazru's and Tank. Reb will actually be receiving four starters on her team. Tangi's team = my team I use in the game. Hope that's okay! :x Oh, and for what Flint's voice sounds like… Hmm… Well Charmanders have the childish voice, so Flint's would be more mature sounding… Since he's a Charmeleon. Idk how to describe it beyond that, sorry.

Chapter 13 - Just a Repeat…

"Toto-Toto-Toto," the blue thief cried with a black-colored PokéDex dangling in its mouth. Tangi cringed each time it said something, fearing that it might close its mouth all the way and crush it. Luckily, it spat it out onto the rock it was dancing on and leapt into the air, finishing its cry with a "Totodile!"

"Easy, little guy…" Tangi took a step forward to it. It placed a foot on it; Tangi stopping in his tracks. One wrong move or one loud noise could cause the Pokémon to run… '_Loud noise…_' "Reb, don't make a sound- Huh?" He had turned his head to tell her not to startle the Totodile, but she had vanished.

"Tangi, he's so cute!" He turned his head at full throttle to face the blue menace only to see it in the arms of Reb.

"Rebecca…" Tangi took a step forward to the pair. "That Totodile COULD be wild… You know that, yea?" She rolled her eyes in response.

"Well, obviously! But think about it; he grabbed your PokéDex but just stood there!"

"And?"

"He obviously did it for attention! Isn't that right, sweetie?" She snuggled the 'Mon and received happy murs from it in return. "Hey, hey Tangi! Can I have him?" Tangi grabbed his PokéDex off the rock and popped it open to check the information on Totodile.

"Hmm… His final evolution looks kinda intimidating, and cool at the same time. And he's a Water-Type to boot." He looked back at it to see it was staring down his 'Dex. She smiled at him for giving her those facts; making Reb's need to have him more apparent. "I kinda want him though…"

"No way! I saw him first!" She threw open her arms and dropped the poor Totodile, face first, onto the ground. Tangi panicked and picked him up.

"You just dropped him! You can't be trusted with him!"

"I- I didn't mean to! It was just sort of a spur on the moment!" Tangi snorted and turned his head away from her.

"And just how many more 'spur of the moments' will you be having?" Tangi held the Totodile in front of his face. "I'm willing to forgive you for stealing my PokéDex if you agree to come along with me for MY team!" He cracked a smile but received a Water Gun in the face as a reply.

"Ha! He totally wants to come with me!" Reb's turn came for a Water Gun to the face. He started to laugh at both of them. Tangi shifted him into one arm and pushed his hair back. "Well, you obviously want something from us," Reb started as she too pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Tangi, we need a translator." He nodded in agreement and threw a Pokéball into the air. Fenrir popped out between the two and turned to each of them.

"… I get the feeling this has nothing to do with a trainer battle, does it?" Both of them nodded their heads in response. He pinched the bridge on his face between his eyes. "What is it?" Reb decided to answer.

"We want to know what this Totodile wants!" He looked at her then to the Pokémon that Tangi was holding. "I think he wants to come with me, to be honest!" Another Water Gun aimed at her face in response.

"I think not." Fenrir walked over and kneeled in front of him. "So? What do you want? Take your time; each minute I'm stuck translating is another minute I get to beat Tangi upside the head for making me do this." Tangi urked slightly. A few quick growls from the Totodile and Fenrir nodding, he stood up and walked away from the two humans. Reb and Tangi both turned to each other than to him. They waited a moment before Tangi interrupted whatever Fenrir was doing as he stared off at the path.

"Well?" He turned around, grabbed the Totodile, gave it to Rebecca and then pulled Tangi up the path slightly.

"He's looking for his trainer. He had a PokéDex like yours and thought you'd be able to help him find him." Tangi just stood motionless for a moment. He pulled out his PokéDex again.

"But these were made by Professor Rowan himself…" He turned back to Reb; who currently was throwing the Totodile into the air. "Hey, Reb? What color is your PokéDex?" She caught the Pokémon one last time before turning to Tangi.

"Black, like yours. They were all colored that. Why?" He turned back to Fenrir.

"He's Hazru's Totodile I bet," he whispered. "Tank would never abandon a Pokémon and Reb's here with us." Tangi's hand tightened its grip on his PokéDex. "Did he say anything about the trainer beside that?" Fenrir nodded.

"He said 'I'm bored of you. Stay here…'" Tangi's eyes widen slightly from the response. "I don't think he knew what the first bit meant… And Tangi… I do remember my trainer having a PokéDex…" Fenrir looked down toward his feet. "And he said something along those lines to me in Jubilife…" Tangi put his PokéDex back into his pocket and turned from Fenrir, proceeding to walk back to Reb. Fenrir looked up and followed Tangi back. When Reb threw the Totodile in the air again, Tangi snatched him. He looked down at the ground first to avoid eye contact, then back up with a smile across his face.

"Sure, we'll help you look for your trainer." Totodile's face brightened up and he began to make happy cries. "Okay, okay now! But I need an answer. Fenrir, tell me what he says." He turned around and waited for the nod before continuing. "How long ago were you separated from your trainer?" Few growls later and Tangi had his answer.

"'Not very long ago. I started following you after a while.' When were you being followed?"

"Back in the tunnel way," Reb spoke up. "I knew I wasn't being hysterical!"

"How long did that take?" Tangi thought for a moment.

"About five minutes… So the trainer's most likely in Floaroma Town now…" he finished with a mutter. He turned his head toward Fenrir again. "Don't suppose you'd recognize his Aura, would you?" Reb looked between the two questioningly as he nodded. He closed his eyes… Opening them after not too long. One nod and Tangi understood. He sighed, but then peeked out of the corner of his eye at the Totodile in his hands. He was completely clueless as to what actually happened… And, just like Fenrir before, wanted to get back to his trainer he cared for so. "Alright," he finally said with a sigh. He propped the little guy on his shoulders like he use to do with Flint when he was a Charmander. "To Floaroma Town; full haste!" Tangi turned toward the pathway and bolted at high speed… Leaving Rebecca and Fenrir in the dust.

"W-Wait! Wouldn't his trainer be- Oh, forget it." She readjusted her bag strap before giving chase after Tangi. Fenrir broke into a run too; being sure to match pace with Reb so that she may hear their theory of who the Totodile's trainer was…

"Thank you for waiting! Your Pokémon are fighting fit!" Nurse Joy laid a tray of five Pokéballs on the counter. The boy on the other side began grabbing them and placing them back on his belt. He wore dark-brown kakis with a belt matching the color. His shirt was button-up black dress shirt. He wore one glove on his right hand and goggles around his neck. "Is there anything else I can assist you with, Mr. Zachary?" He grunted, placed the last one on his belt, and made for the door. Nurse Joy watched him leave, sighing as the doors closed.

"What the Hell is all this…" Tangi, Reb, Fenrir and the tag-along Totodile all reached Floaroma Town… Which, for a small town, was highly packed. Reb started playing with her Pokétch before.

"Oh. It's the last day for their spring festival." Her eyes suddenly filled with life. Tangi didn't even have to turn around to give her an answer.

"No. We're doing something important." She gave the "I know that" humph from behind him. He turned his attention back to Fenrir. "Sense him?" He nodded.

"This way."

Zack, not being able to stand the festive feeling of the town, decided it best to just keep walking. Another reason was to get as much distance between him and the dancing fool he left back in the tunnel way before town. '_Don't need another useless Pokémon to manage to catch up to me,_' he thought bitterly. He was still in slight shock that the Riolu he had before had found him; not to mention evolved and could talk. '_Maybe I should have taken him back…_' As he reached the stretch of path that leads to the next road out of town, some noise caught his attention. It was-

"Tooootooodile!!!" He spun around in horror that the Pokémon he ditched had found him. And, adding on to his horror, was the fact a Lucario and two trainers were bolting up to him. The gang stopped a few steps away from him; all glaring at him. Save Totodile that was. He hopped off Tangi's shoulders and ran up to his trainer, hugging his leg. "Totodile!" He cried loudly as he rubbed his head against Zack's leg. The trainer looked from him to Fenrir. He crossed his arms before speaking.

"It's been a while Zack. How many days now… Nine? Ten? I guess my memory has dwindled slightly…" Fenrir uncrossed his arms again. "Mind refreshing it? How long ago did you attack me?" Totodile turned his attention from showing his trainer affection to staring at Fenrir in confusion.

"… Heh." Zack just raised his arms in a shrug. "You didn't hear me before? I'm done with you." Tangi stepped ahead of Fenrir now.

"And he's done with you." Zack let his arms dropped and focused on Tangi. "But that doesn't mean I am! I'm only just starting…" Tangi stared him down... Zack smiled widely at him.

"So you're his trainer now? I guess weak Pokémon are attracted to weak humans." Rebecca took her turn to step forward this time.

"They're only weak if you see them that way. All Pokémon have the potential to be the strongest… If you believe." He stared at her, slightly confused. Zack then broke into laughter, smacking his forehead with one hand and grabbing his gut with the other.

"Don't give me that girly reasoning shit!" He swung both arms outward to his sides. "If a Pokémon isn't strong from the get-go, I could give two shits about what happens to them! The strong stick with me, and the weak get left behind!" Totodile looked up at his trainer, not sure how to take everything he heard. Zack looked down at him and smiled. "That counts this one too…" He pulled his leg away from him before kicking him with full force. Rebecca shouted at him as Tangi ran for the catch and Fenrir ran for Zack.

"Got him!" Tangi snatched Totodile from the air and slide to a stop, falling over in the process. Fenrir ran up with an Aura Sphere primed in both hands. He already lunged at him… "Stop, Fenrir!" He was mid leap, but managed to shift his weight in midair and land away from Zack; who had his arms crossed in front of his face. He moved them and stared down his former Lucario. Tangi stood up and walked over to Rebecca; handing her Totodile. "Watch him," he whispered. Reb nodded and slid her bag off her shoulder before digging around for meds. Tangi walked up to Fenrir and socked him on top of his head. "Don't attack people like that; it'd make you no better than him." Fenrir sighed.

"Sorry. It won't happen again…"

"Nah, don't say that." He turned to Tangi. "If he does or says something again, then it'd be okay." He turned his head to Fenrir and smiled. Fenrir chuckled and faced Zack once more. "So…" Zack dropped his arms and focused on Tangi. "What say you that we have a match… I win, and you go to the police station here. You win…" Tangi pulled his wallet out and his badge case. "You can have what's in both of these." Zack looked between the items in both of his hands. "Don't worry, I actually have close to 18k saved up in this now," he finished with waving his wallet around. "And the Coal Badge in this one." This time he waved the case around. Zack looked him down… The started chuckling…

"You didn't hear me before, did you?" He grabbed a Pokéball off his belt and tossed it into the air; a Machoke appearing. "I only use strong Pokémon." Tangi grinned.

"So you accept?" It took a moment, but Zack finally nodded. "Use every 'mon on your person. Sound good?" Another nod followed with a smirk. "Right then… Force Palm!" No sooner than "Force" left Tangi's mouth had Fenrir lunged at the Machoke. His paw landed right on the Pokémon's belt. Zack cursed.

"Karate Chop!" The Machoke threw down his arm at Fenrir.

"Dodge!" He leapt backwards then bolted right back at his target; landing another Force Palm. "Aura Sphere!" In his free hand, Fenrir primed an Aura Sphere.

"Toss him!" Machoke grabbed onto Fenrir's arm and spun him around before tossing him into the air. '_That should do it- What?!_' Zack thought that tossing the Lucario would cause the charge on Aura Sphere to disappear; wrong. Fenrir now had prime distance to fire. He placed both hands together, doubling the energy in the ball. He grinned and launched the attack. Direct hit! Machoke grabbed his face in pain as Fenrir landed.

"Low Kick!" Fenrir ducked down and charged at the Machoke. He dropped down, made the Pokémon lose its footing, than Force Palm stacked with an Aura Sphere attacked the Machoke. When its dust cloud cleared, it was apparent that it was knocked out. Zack returned his Pokémon, then glared at Tangi.

"How?"

"How what?" He stomped his foot.

"How can you get a weak Pokémon to topple one of mine?!" Tangi snorted.

"There's nothing weak about Fenrir, fool!" He crossed his arms and left one eye opened, focused on Zack. "You just never gave him a reason to be strong." Zack grinded his teeth together from anger.

"What's THAT suppose to mean!?" Tangi sighed.

"Exactly what I said; he never had a reason to fight strongly before. Right, Fen?" Fenrir jumped slightly.

"… What… Did you call me?" He turned around to see Tangi, arms spread open, reverted back to his stupid, smiling self.

"FEN-FEN!" -BAM!- Aura Sphere to the face… Tangi grabbed the spot of where contact was made. "Ugh… I'm so glad those are energy based… It'd suck to have bruises." He laughed to himself until a roar snapped him back to the battle. In Machoke's place stood a Tyranitar.

"Hyper Beam!"

"Dodge!" Tangi shot to his feet, but Fenrir ignored his order. Instead, he stood in place and braced for impact. Tangi was about to question why when he heard a whining from behind him. He bolted around and saw Reb still caring for the Totodile. '_He's taking the hit so she doesn't have to move him…_' When the attack ended, Fenrir stood in place… Oddly enough, seeming undamaged. He let a laugh slip him.

"Forgive me Zack, that was rude… It's just…" He looked at his hands… "Last time I was hit with that, I fainted. Did I not?" He turned to his former trainer and smiled madly at him. "Guess I have gotten stronger." With that, he turned around and walked back to Tangi; causing Tangi some confusion.

"Uh… What are ya doing?" Fenrir patted him on the shoulder.

"Good luck. That Hyper Beam drained him. Might want to swap Pokémon." He pulled his Pokéball off Tangi's belt and returned himself… He scratched his head as to why Fenrir would switch out when he had a chance to finish him off…

"What the Hell did he return himself for!?" Tangi looked over at him. He then took a moment to switch his interest between Zack and Fenrir's Pokéball…

'_Oh, I see what he did…_' "He said something about being bored with a weakling like you and told me to use someone else. That's a first for me, actually…" Zack's hands quickly turned into fist. "You must have REALLY bored him for him to do tha-"

"Just bring a Pokémon out before I decide to attack you!"

"Heh, sorry!" He placed the Pokéball back on his belt and tossed his second choice. "Flint!" Out popped the yellow tinted Charmeleon.

"Char-" he stopped mid-battle cry. He looked the Tyranitar up and down, pointed at it and turned to Tangi. "You're kidding, right?" Tangi shook his head no and urged Flint to battle. "I freaking hate you," he muttered under his breath.

"The hell?" Zack walked over to the Charmeleon, who leaned back away from him. He grabbed his head and turned it from side to side. "Why the Hell is it yellow?"

"More importantly," he snapped his teeth at the kid's hand. "Why the Hell were you touching me!?" Reb finally shouted at them.

"Yeah! Only Tangi can touch him like that!" Tangi and Flint both urked at Reb's remark.

"Flint, Metal Claw the Tyranitar!" He shoved Zack to the side and launched his attack. Tangi turned to Rebecca while he could take his interest off the field. "If you're making comments like that, I'll assume Totodile's okay?" She nodded.

"He might have something broken." She stood up and picked up the croc-like Pokémon. "I'll take him to the PokéCenter in town." She turned her back to Tangi. "Don't take long." And with that, she was off.

"Rock Slide!" Tangi returned to the match, happy to see that Flint dodged the attack. "Shit…"

"Sorry, but Flint's probably the best dodger I got on my team!" He placed his hands behind his head and smiled happily at Zack. "It's just from all my awesome training I gave him!"

"What training are you talking about?" Flint leapt back over to Tangi, to which he received a smack across the horn.

"Idiot! Don't pretend I don't give you training!" Flint rubbed his horn.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about… You're such a slacker that we all just train ourselves." He tilted his head to the side and stuck out his tongue. Tangi swung for the horn again, but Flint decided not to let that one hit.

"STOP MOCKING ME!" Flint and Tangi looked over at Zack's direction; he becoming furious and his Tyranitar slightly spooked. He started breathing heavily from anger. "Don't you dare look away from me during a match! Do you hear me!?" Tangi and Flint's eyes just narrowed in sync.

"This is annoying," Flint sighed.

"I know. Go ahead and finish it." He turned to Tangi. They both nodded to each other before Flint charged in. His claw glowed blue as he used Dragon Claw; knocking chunks of dirt into his opponent's eyes. Tyranitar roared and tried to hit Flint with his tail, but he jumped over that. He primed a Metal Claw and swiped down the Pokémon's spine. He fell forward and tried to reach his arms around to grab at the spot that was hit.

"Stop squirming! Dark Pulse!" The Tyranitar let out a low, deep roar, which in turn emitted a wave of what looked like dark sound waves. Flint had no direct way of dodging sounds so he was forced to cover his ears. "Now Mega Claw!" Tyranitar stood to his feet and knocked Flint backwards into the air. However…

"Wrap around it!" Flint obeyed and managed to wrap what he could of his tail around the attacker's arm. He used it to pull himself closer. One more Metal Claw under the jaw and Tyranitar was dazed. He cocked his head back into a downward position, only to be met by the face of the Charmeleon, flames already dripping from it's mouth like saliva. "Blast Burn." The order was issued; Flint more than happy to oblige. He aimed a little behind his target, unwrapped his tail and kicked himself off it. Tyranitar stumbled to regain its balance, but had only managed to walk right into the center of Blast Burn. Topped with all the damage already taken, it didn't matter whether he was a Rock-Type or not; his energy was drained. The flames died down and revealed the finished product; one barbequed Pokémon, down for the count.

"Damn it…" Zack returned his Pokémon. After waiting for him to send another one out, Tangi assumed he had no more.

"All right, to the police station. Let's go." He started to make his way to Zack when suddenly…

"Exploud, Screech!" Tangi and Flint both had to cover their ears to protect themselves from the sound barrage. He looked up and saw that Zack was getting onto a Skarmory. Once he returned his Pokémon, he shouted to Tangi. "I didn't lose; you just cheated! That's the only explanation!" With that, his bird kicked off the ground and flew away.

"Damn it! Get back here!" Tangi broke into a run in some deluded hope that he could catch him. He stopped a few feet from where the Skarmory was, Flint walking up behind him.

"Sorry, I could have attacked before he took off…" Tangi shook his head.

"No, it's my fault. I figured he'd actually stick to his word… Some fool I am." Flint reached up and put his paw on Tangi's arm.

"We should go… It's not like we can chase after them…" Tangi nodded in agreement.

"Yeah… Reb said not to keep her waiting anyway…" They both turned around on the spot and began their march to the PokéCenter.

"By the way, what did you make me fight him for again?" Tangi sighed as Flint laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head.

It'd been about ten minutes since Nurse Joy had taken the Totodile into her care. She complimented her on the patch work she did on him, but that didn't make Reb feel any better about the whole matter. She felt bad for ever letting Totodile get close to Zack… And the fact she knew he was the one that harmed Fenrir beforehand didn't help her cope with the situation any better. Just as she was about to sulk though, the doors opened up.

"Ya know… Technically we COULD have chased them… If you had evolved into a Charizard!" A sigh before Reb heard a response.

"Yeah… Remember how I evolved last time?" Tangi walked into the lobby with Flint by his side, seeming to be in a thinking position.

"Hmm… So you won't evolve unless you're knocked first into a building, then into something to sit on is what you're saying?" Flint jumped up and smacked Tangi across the face; with his tail.

"There you are!" They turned their focus to Reb who ran up to greet them. "What happened to Zack?" Both of them sighed and just kind of turned away from her.

"Well," Flint finally speaking up, "he kind of flew away…" Tangi snorted.

"We could have chased after him, but Flint here needs to be knocked into something to evolve!" Once again, Flint jumped up and smacked Tangi upside the head with his tail. "How can you even jump that high?!" He grabbed the back of his head but Reb smacked him across the face; giving him two spots to rub. "Oh." Tangi walked past Reb, causing her to turn around. Nurse Joy had walked back from the examination room.

"Nurse!" She looked up from her chart at Reb and the two accompanying her. "Oh, this is Tangi, the one I told you about. And that's his Pokémon." She looked back and forth between the two before turning to Reb with a smile.

"The Totodile you brought in has no broken bones or damage organs of any sort from the scans." All three of them sighed a breath of relief. "Is the trainer that assaulted him in custody?" They all shook their heads no before Tangi relayed the story to her. "I see," she said at the end. Tangi opened his mouth to apologize but she stopped him with a motion of her hand. "Don't. It's not your fault for thinking he wouldn't keep his word."

"Actually, it sort of is…" Flint said. Reb smacked him across the head while Tangi grinned happily at the fact that he wasn't the one to get hit this time. Then he realized that Nurse Joy didn't react at all to Flint talking.

"You've seen talking Pokémon before?"

"Actually, my sister in Oreburgh City told me about this one." She smiled before walking away to the desk and finished with, "You can go see them Totodile if you wish. He's in a normal bedroom. I have a phone call to make." They all nodded and walked off down the hallway.

Totodile woke up it the middle of the night. He yawned at first, then remembered what transpired. He shot up suddenly and began looking around the room. The first thing he noticed where the two trainers from before in the room. The boy from before was sprawled out on the floor near a window; a Charmeleon curled up next to his head and a Treecko asleep on his stomach. He looked over near the door to see that the girl from before had taken up three of the four chairs; a Bulbasaur and Torchic taking up the remaining one.

"Awake, are we?" Totodile jumped on the spot and turned around slowly. There was a fifth chair in the room, taken up by the Lucario.

"… They called you Fenrir, right?" He nodded. "And you knew Zack?" He nodded again. He stared at him as Fenrir turned the page in a book. "… You were… abandoned too, right?" He peeked over the rim of the book, closed it and placed it on the night table.

"Yeah." They stayed motionless for a while. "You know, this sort of reminds me of when I was hospitalized." Totodile looked up at him. He told the story of how he found Zack, how Zack betrayed him, how he went on a rampage and how Flint and Tangi had stopped him. "Afterwards, I just ended up going with him…" He looked down at his trainer as he shifted in place, Treecko subconsciously latched to him while still asleep to prevent him falling, and threw an arm over Flint. He chuckled lightly at the scene.

"Why?" He looked back over at the Totodile, causing him to jump slightly. "I meant, how could you trust someone again?" He looked down at the bed he currently sat on.

"Because we can't live alone forever." He looked up again at Fenrir. He sighed before continuing. "Tangi told me that himself… No one likes to be alone forever. Even if you grow cold and become a loner now… Doesn't mean the ice on your heart isn't melting away." He cocked a smile to the gator. "All things eventually seek warmth."

"Ugh… Why yes, I WOULD like sevenths… Eheheh!" Totodile jumped from fright and Fenrir just smacked a paw over his face. Tangi rolled back over onto his back; mouth gaping open and drool coming out. Totodile leaned over the side of the bed and saw this.

"Sorry you had to see that," Fenrir said before grabbing a pillow off the bed and throwing it on Tangi's face. He sighed, but then laughter followed. He turned to the Totodile.

"A-Are things like this always this fun?" He turned to Fenrir with big, gleaming eyes. He joined him with a light laughter.

"Basically, yes. You should see them awake though if you thought that was humorous." Totodile nodded and placed his paws over his jaw, trying to muffle the laughter.

"Alright, Totodile will be going to one of you. He doesn't care which; so long as he can come with." Morning came and Fenrir decided to wake everyone upon the blue gator's request.

"Well, it's nice to see him up at least." Rebecca shot a smile at Totodile, who was now jumping up and down on the bed from excitement.

"He's too energetic for Rebecca! I can handle him!" Tangi shot up from his spot on the floor and on to the bed, then proceeded to jump on it. Rebecca shot up from her seat.

"Tangi! Don't! You're way too big for that!" He didn't listen. After a bit, and the bed still not caving in, Nidhogg decided to join in despite Reb's protest. "Oh not you too Blake!" The Torchic jumped up along with them; all of them laughing away. Flint finally got too excited and leapt for the bed.

"No!" all of them shouted as Flint was in midair. It was too late; the extra weight caused the bed legs to finally give in and they all crashed to the floor. Reb grabbed Blake to check for injuries as Totodile and Nidhogg rubbed their heads from the impact.

"I TOLD you you're fat!"

"I am not!" Tangi kept repeating "fat" at Flint while he shouted back at him, blush turning his face from yellow to orange. Reb shouted at them to stop while Fenrir walked over and socked both of them into the wall.

"What is going on it here!?" Nurse Joy flung the door open just as Tangi and Flint landed where it'd swing to hit the wall; smacking them both in the face. She looked behind the door and started yelling apologizes to them. Nidhogg broke into laughter until Fenrir picked him up. He turned to Reb and nodded at her.

"It's up to use if Blake should get punished; though, in his defense, he saw Tangi and Nid doing it first and thought it was okay." She only nodded while she snuggled her chick. Totodile looked around the room and proceeded to laugh at the current events.

'_This really is more fun when they're awake!_'

After paying for the hospital bed and eating a breakfast, Reb agreed with Tangi's previous statement that he should get Totodile because of all the energy needed to watch him. (Which Fenrir sighed at, knowing he'd be doing most of the babysitting since he did already.) But Rebecca's terms for agreement were that she was to get the next Pokémon they came across of if she wanted it.

"Fenrir, you got a name for the kiddo?" Fenrir flipped through the mythology book that Tangi had on him, seeing that since every Pokémon so far, save Flint, was named after something in there, so should Totodile. Totodile had been running around his feet since they walked outside.

"Tiamat?"

"Isn't that a female dragon's name?"

"… Good point." Fenrir kept flipping through the book. Reb walked outside finally after saying good-bye.

"You're still deciding on a name?" They both nodded. She looked at the book Fenrir was looking through. Then, out of the blue, spoke up. "Why not Sobek?" They both turned to her. "What? It's a crocodile in Egyptology. Look it up if you don't believe me!" With that she walked off, Totodile deciding to follow her for now. Fenrir and Tangi turned to each other before he flipped through the book.

"… She's right. It's a bipedal croc/man hybrid worshiped as a god." Tangi snatched the book from Fenrir and read it.

"… How did she know that?!"

Footnotes: I've noticed that most people named Zack are either really nice or complete assholes. That's why his name is such! (No offense intended to Zacks I've yet to meet!) And sorry for Sobek going to Tangi; he's on my Pokémon team! Reb will get a new one next chapter though! Promise!

Chapter Preview: The gang hear stories of the Valley Windworks being overtaken and that the people inside have a hostage. Obviously, our heroes have to play the hero part!

Next time; Mars' Wrath!

~After leaving the PokéCenter~

**Tangi**: *currently walking down a dirt road in town.* I didn't think you'd let me have Sobek so willingly Reb. That was kinda nice of you… I guess.

**Rebecca**: Anytime! Now, be sure to get him to evolve to his final stage very fast Tangi! And same with Flint! *giggles*

**Tangi**: Eh? Why's that?

**Rebecca**: Oh, no reason~! *pulls out a notebook from her pack and snuggles it.* Threesomes make great stories though!

**Tangi**: *grabs the notebook and reads "Lemon Fictions"; drops book and his jaw.*

**Rebecca**: Eek! My fan fiction! *materializes her metal walking stick and slams it against Tangi's skull with tears in her eyes.* Divine Punishment!


	14. Mars' Wrath

A/N: ~Signing on an Editor!~

**Big Company Rep**: Very well Mr. M. We shall seal the deal later today.

**Me**: Oh yes, thank you! *B.C.R leaves room; Tangi, Reb, Tank and Hazru walk in.*

**Tangi**: What was that about?

**Me**: I just hired an editor! They represent some big time dubbing company!

**Hazru**: And exactly how much is that going to be?

**Me**: Just fifteen dollars and a paperclip!

**Hazru**: … Isn't that oddly cheap?

**Me**: It was a super-deal!

**Tank**: Or a rip off…

**Me**: Now, now. Think HAPPY thoughts!

**Rebecca**: Well, either way, that's great! Less typos! When do they start? *Mr. M shuffles through papers,*

**Me**: Well, the deal won't be finalized until this afternoon. We get to meet the editor now though, to see if he's what we want. *someone knocks on the other side of the door* Oh, there he is! Come in! *Man walks in; everyone in the room begins staring mortified at him.*

**4Kids Editor; Bob**: Lawl~ Hai guiz!

_Later that day…_

**B.C.R.**: Mr. M! I've come to see if you're happy wit- *stares at Bob, currently sprawled out on the floor, seeming to have been mauled (and possibly missing an ear). "Thanks for the offer, but fuck no." written on a sticky note attached to Bob's back.*

And with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14 - Mars' Wrath!

"You sure this is the right way?"

"Yeah! Of course! This Pokétch app can't be wrong!" Tangi and Rebecca had left town not even a half hour ago and they still managed to get lost.

"We should have come across a bridge by now though Reb. I mean, it wasn't that far from town according to the map on that notice board." Reb giggled.

"I know what I'm doing! There's this other town marked on this map I thought we should check out!" Tangi stopped in his tracks. Reb, having not noticed, kept walking forward.

"Reb." She stopped, noticed he wasn't next to her, turned and walked up to him. He grabbed her wrist and looked at it. "This part isn't a town."

"Of course it is! It's separate from the path!" He tapped on the watch screen.

"No, it's not white. All towns are marked white on the map Reb." Silence before she "oh"ed, Tangi sighed in reaction. "Whatever, let's just…" He grabbed Rebecca and dived into the near by greenery. She tried to complain, but Tangi smacked his right hand over her mouth. "Shh, quiet." Two people wearing the same outfit as the two in Jubilife City ran up and stopped where Tangi and Reb were just seconds ago. Reb grabbed Tangi's arm, him cringing and grinded his teeth from the pressure she had applied to his wound, and moved it away from her mouth. One grunt grabbed his head and seemed to whine as he spoke.

"Man, I can't believe I lost my key! The commander is going to be furious!" Grunt two, a female one, walked up and placed a consulting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry… We can't exactly go back and look for it. We'll just have to think of an excuse…" The male grunt paid no mind; seeming to fear whatever punishment might come his way. Sighing then smacking him on the back, she resumed with trying to comfort him. "Come on now, we have to be on time or we'll get yelled at that on top of the key incident…" He nodded and they continued on their way; the rest of their conversation drowned out. Rebecca was the first to pop out from the shrubs.

"Hey, Tangi… Did you hear all of tha- Are you okay?" She had turned around to see if he did hear everything, only to see him rocking on the ground and holding his arm. He glared at her and pointed at his arm. "Oh, right. Heh! Sorry!" She swung her arms behind her back and stuck her tongue at him. Tangi stood up and dusted himself off.

"If you ever do that again, I'll…" he froze mid sentence for she began her crying act. "… Whatever! Just don't do it again!" He stormed past her and began walking down the pathway.

"Eh?" She ran up behind him, grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "Where are you going? You said so yourself; there's no town that way." He just looked at her for a moment before pointing in the direction he was heading.

"Didn't YOU hear all that? They got something going on down there. We obviously have to head down there!" He turned back around to proceed to his destination, until Reb turned him back around again.

"We need a key according to them though." Tangi crossed his arms and chose to think on the matter…

"We could just use this one I found…" Reb and Tangi jumped in fright and looked over to the cause of the fright. Standing just a few feet away from them was Tank; looking as spacey as he always did. Tangi ran up to him.

"Hey man!" When he got in range, they gave each other a high-five. "What happened to you back in Oreburgh? You missed my gym match!" Tank shrugged.

"I didn't think you'd mind me leaving. Fenrir said it would have been fine with you." Tangi shrugged and grinned at him. Reb walked up to Tank, asking the more important question.

"Hey, Tank." He turned to her and waved. She waved back before asking, "Tank, what did you mean by 'use this one?'" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key with a yellow orb at the end of it.

"Well, those two dropped this key. I was going to return it but they seemed like they were in a hurry."

"… You do know they're bad guys, yea?" Tank looked up at him.

"Oh, really? Well, I guess I do now." Tangi sighed and Reb giggled.

"The Hell? Why are you all here?" Tangi didn't have to look up to know who said that, although he did anyway. Walking up the pathway was Hazru.

'_Looking as smug as ever!_' Tangi cleared his throat. "I should ask you the same!" Hazru just sighed.

"I'm chasing some goons that tried to take my Pokémon; not that it's any of your concern." The three of them looked at each other, then turned and stared blankly at Hazru. "What? It's true! They wanted my Pokémon. I said no. They tried attacking me for them, but I fought back. Then they ran off before I could finish'em off. Saying something about 'being late' and 'Valley Windworks.'" Tank took his turn to speak up.

"That might actually be true. The key has 'Windworks' inscribed on this yellow part." They all looked and, sure enough, it was there. Tangi punched his right hand into his left palm.

"Right then! We obviously have uncovered an evil plan!" Hazru grabbed his arm, causing him to stammer in pain.

"Sure you can fight with an apparent weakness?" Reb smacked his hand off Tangi's arm, then smacked him.

"You know it's injured and grab it, then ask what if the bad guys did it? Doesn't that make you rather fit for them?" She stood her grounds on this… Ignoring the fact that she herself had done the same thing minutes ago. He grunted.

"I did it to prove a point. That's it." He walked past Reb and up to Tangi again. "So? Think you can fight still?" Tangi forced his pain back and replaced the expression on his face with an adamant one; then back to his stupid grinning.

"Of course!" He turned around on the spot and pointed down the pathway. "Since we're all here and we have a reason to go in this direction, let's topple the baddies as a team!" Reb sighed.

"The only reason we're here is because of my directions though Tangi." He urked, turned slowly to her and mumbled.

"You didn't have to let those two know…" Tank laughed and Hazru responded with a sigh. "Right then!" Tangi gained his composure and bolted forward, shouting to the others, "Let's go!"

"Man, I knew it… 'No excuses, maggot!' Did you hear her? She's ruthless…" The male grunt sighed and leaned against the Valley Windworks building.

"Best not to say that too loud… Though I agree perfectly with you," the female grunt sighed. The gang poked their heads out from behind a few trees.

"Right, what's the plan?" Tangi snuck back behind his tree and turned to the others.

"I thought you were playing leader Tangi," grunted Hazru.

"I am! And as the leader, I decided to make you all brain storm!" Hazru sighed.

"I could go up and use my charms to get them away from the door!" Reb jumped up then covered her mouth, fearing she might have said that too loud. Tank decided to point out the flaw in her plan before Hazru could.

"One of them is a woman though… I think that cancels out girl charms, doesn't it?" Reb nodded. Tangi, of course, talked before thinking.

"Besides, what charms do you even have?" *BAM!* Five across the face!

"I say we just charge the fort." Tank shook his head to the idea.

"We can't. What if they have the workers in there?" Hazru sighed.

"We don't have too many options. Either we sneak it, which might be hard. Or we storm the front." Tangi pondered on their resources for a moment.

"… Hazru. Tank. Either one of you have flying Pokémon?" They both nodded. He turned to Reb. "Any chance Bruce knows Sleep Powder?" She nodded; all of them caught on to the plan.

"Since we only have one Grass-Type it seems," Tank spoke up. "I'll send my Pokémon in as a distraction. Sound good?" Tangi nodded at him.

"Then we all know what to do about the guards?" They all nodded. "Right. Tank, leave Reb your flying Pokémon, and then follow me. And after you guys tell them the plan, meet just over near that yellow pine tree." They all nodded and Tangi walked off to the established meeting place.

"Ugh, how long do you think she's going to be?" The male grunt decided to sit down to give his legs a break. The female grunt liked his idea and joined him.

"Don't know. The guy they got in there is being rather uncooperative." She sighed. "Why can't people just accept that we're working for the better of everyone?" The male grunt snickered.

"Yea, I hear ya." He looked upwards just in time to meet an oncoming-

"Natu!" The tiny bird slammed head-on into the man's face, knocking his head back into the building and knocking him out in the process. The Natu began jumping around on his face when the female shot up.

"You little…" She never finished her sentence, thanks to Hazru's Pidgeotto flying in with Bruce in its talons. Bruce released his Sleep Powder and knocked the woman out. The boys ran up; Tangi moving the grunts to the side while Tank and Hazru took care of their Pokémon.

"Good job Raptor." Pidgeotto flew down onto Hazru arm. Tangi laughed lightly at the name as he dragged the woman off.

"You named a bird of prey, 'bird of prey?'" Hazru hmphed at his remark.

"Don't say it like that; it loses its luster." Tank picked up the Natu and held it out in front of him.

"You did your part very well too, Nate." Hazru motioned his free hand at Tank.

"He named his Natu Nate; just one letter changed." Tangi dropped the body off and shrugged.

"Hey, he named an Eevee Eve. I wasn't expecting something clever from him." Tank sighed and cocked his head at the pair.

"You know, back in school, I had a history of being violent." Both boys jumped; Tangi laughed lightly and Hazru returned Raptor to his Pokéball. Tank chuckled and returned his Natu. Now, the only one remaining was…

"Sorry guys!" Reb ran up; Bruce meeting her halfway. "Look what I found!" She held a Spinarak out in front of her; all of the males freaked. "Eh? What?" Tangi ran up to her and snatched it away.

"Reb! These are poisonous- SON OF A BIT-MUMPH!" The Spinarak bit on one of Tangi's fingers, then String Shot Tangi's mouth before he could finish his obscenity. It then jumped from his hands and back to Rebecca; leaving Tangi unsure to whether he should pry the web off his face or check his finger for damage. It climbed up Reb's arm and began nudging her face when it reached the top. It looked back over at Tangi, who was waving his bitten hand around while trying to pry the web off his face with the other.

"You're lucky I wasn't poisoned, little bug," Tangi said after his finger was checked and his mouth freed from the webbing. "Because if I was going to die, I'd at least take you with me." He waved a finger at the Spinarak; pulling it back from fear when it snapped its pincers at him again.

"He already bit you once, and you insist on taunting him again?" Reb sighed and petted the spider that rested on her shoulder. Tangi just stared at her with an expression of gloom and confusion.

"It's… It's a spider Reb." She nodded. "Aren't… Women… I don't know, SCARED of bugs?" She shrugged.

"They never really bothered me." He smacked his forehead. Hazru coughed rather loudly for it to just be a regular cough.

"Don't we have a mission here? For a leader, you sure get us off track easily…" He peeked over at Tangi, receiving the exact anger-filled expression he expected.

*Click*

All three turned to the door; Tank had unlocked it. "We don't have time; they might wake up soon or replacement guards might come to swap with them." He walked in; the rest of them nodding and running for the door. Reb stopped just outside and put the Spinarak down.

"It was nice to meet you!" She waved goodbye to it and ran in. The spider cocked his head from side to side before walking inside as the door was shutting.

Despite entering after Tank, Tangi assumed the lead of the pack. They all moved along the corridors of the factory as silently as possible; shocking Tangi at how well Reb was doing. He peeked around a corner, spotting a few more guards. Tangi motion for the group to huddle. "We'll need to take these goons down. I don't think we have the time for a plan, so might as well battle them." The others nodded in agreement and readied their choices. Tangi held up his hand and peeked around the corner again. He waited to drop it at the right time. When the grunts turned their backs to them, he lowered it. They all bolted in.

"Go!" They all shouted. The guards turned around in surprise. Eve came out from Tank's Pokéball and smacked on guard upside the head with her Iron Tail. The second one pulled his Pokéball out, but Bruce Vine Whipped it away; then used Sleeping Powder. Tangi and Hazru also had chosen their starters; Flint and Genbu. Flint smacked the last grunt in the gut while Genbu chose to aim for his face. All three guards disposed of; the team praised their Pokémon in their own way.

"How come every time you call me out, it's to attack someone?" Hazru and Tank turned their heads toward Flint's direction as him and Tangi carried out a conversation. Reb stepped in front of them.

"It's kind of complicated guys! Eheh…" Tank just shrugged and picked his Eevee up.

"Whatever. I knew he was a freak." Hazru sighed and bent over to pat Genbu on the head; his remark had provoked Tangi and Flint though.

"Say that again!" They shouted in union-sense. Hazru just snorted at the pair.

"See? Freaks." Tangi was about to shout again when they heard a door bang from across the room.

"Well now… I see we need to rethink who we sign up for Team Galactic if these fools can't stop some kids." The gang and their Pokémon all turned to face the new opponent. A red haired woman strutted out from the room behind her. Her suit wasn't too different from the people they just took out; save the fact that her suit was more of a skirt attached to the top part. "Whatever should I do now?" She raised her arms, closed her eyes and let a sigh slip her. Hazru stepped forward.

"You're the one in charge of the group here, no?" She popped open one eye and shot Hazru a smile.

"Quite right, darling. Now, I have work to do; which I'm almost finished with. I just might overlook this endeavor if you all leave here quickly… I've been so looking forward to leaving here." She turned around and started to strut back into the room.

"Hold it!" A Razor Leaf flew past her. She turned back around and faced Reb and Bruce.

"Something the matter, love?" Tank stepped forward now.

'Don't give us that, lady." Tangi took his turn.

"You shouldn't be here." She dropped her left arm and held her right up against her face, sighing into it.

"Yes, that's my point." She dropped her remaining arm and, with a creepily happy smile, said to them, "I am almost done here. So if you kiddies could go else where, that'd just be lovely." She turned back around and tried once again to walk into the back room; a Water Gun just over her shoulder this time as her warning. She spun around at full throttle. "Listen, you little shits! I tried to be nice; but no more!" She grabbed a Pokéball of her waist and enlarged it. "And seeing as how you refused my earlier offers, there's no need for a final warning!" She tossed the Pokéball into the air; releasing a Zubat. "Supersonic!"

"Flint; behind that generator!" He obeyed and the Supersonic waves smacked off it; protecting the Charmeleon from the confusing effects. "Flamethrower!" He leapt from behind the machine and primed his attack, but was met with a Wing Attack, knocking his head backwards and his Flamethrower hitting the ceiling. Genbu rushed past the reptile.

"Hydro Cannon!" One quick charge and the stream of high-pressured water came rushing out of Genbu's mouth. The Zubat was rather evasive however, as it managed to dodge all of the attack. The woman smiled.

"Gust attack!" The bat began flapping its wings faster; a minor tornado beginning to form. Genbu was knocked backwards into Flint; Tangi and Hazru urking at the current development.

"Razor Leaf!"

"Shadow Ball!" Bruce let his barrage go, the leaves cutting across machinery and storage boxes in the room. Eve's Shadow Ball brought up the rear; seeming to push the leaves at a higher speed. However, the Zubat was still quick to evade.

"Gust!" Another quickly made wind and the attacks were nullified. Reb cursed as Tank shouted another order for Shadow Ball. "Zubat, Wing Attack the brown lump." It charged right at Eve as she was charging her attack and canceled it. Eve was sent backwards into the wall. Tank took his turn to curse and ran over to his 'Mon. "Honestly, if you kids had listened to me, you wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Dragon Claw!" Finally; an attack connected! The Zubat was sent into a generator that was damaged slightly from Razor Leaf. The extra impact caused the machine to finally overload; shocking the poor Flying-Type. The woman simply returned her Pokémon and glared down the Charmeleon… She pressed onto her left ear and began talking into it.

"Exactly how much longer do you need?" A pause. "Understood." She released the hold on it and reached into a pocket, then pulled out glasses. "Tell me, child," she said to Tangi while putting the glasses on. "Just what is your name?" Tangi stayed muted for a moment; thinking it over…

"Tangi. And you?" She gasped and started laughing.

"Oh, how simply rude of me!" She placed a hand on her chest. "My name is Mars. Commander Mars of Team Galactic. And who is that?" She pointed at the Charmeleon.

"Flint." She cocked her head to Flint. "Problem?" He smirked and raised his arms into a shrugging position.

"Not at all…" Mars shot him a smile. She reached around her backside and pulled off another Pokéball. Tossing it into the air made it release the creature inside; a Purugly. Tangi just stared at it for a moment.

"Wait…" Mars smirked.

"So you noticed?" Tangi dug around in his pocket and pulled out his Pokédex; the others watching him intently. He popped it open and pointed at the Purugly. Sure enough, it was there. However…

"No way…" He looked back up at the Pokémon, then back at the Pokédex. Mars kept away at smiling; knowing he'd catch on. "It's a shiny…" Hazru immediately pulled out his Pokédex. Sure enough, the one on the device was white with grey patterns and purple ear tips. However, the one before them was white with purple patterns and blue ear tips. Flint dropped his arms and walked over to the cat; deciding to take a closer look. The Purugly allowed him to. Mars raised her hand to her lips and giggled into it.

"Well, well. They seem to becoming fast friends." Flint jerked his head up and jumped backwards slightly.

"Whatever!" She giggled more.

"Really? What a darn shame…" Her creepily, cheerful face changed to a more blank one. "Faint Attack." Purugly leapt into the air and vanished. Everyone looked around for where it'd appear at; Reb being the first to notice. It popped up in front of Bruce and kicked him backwards with its hind legs. Afterwards, it appeared to vanish again. Reb ran over to tend to her Pokémon. "Did you know, Tangi…?" He turned from Bruce to her, revealing his shocked expression at the speed of Mars' Pokémon. "That each Rutilus Electus Res not only gain a different coloring compared to others of their species… But can act and battle quite differently?" Hazru shot her a confused look.

"'Rutilus Electus Res?" She answered him; though didn't bother to take her eyes of Tangi and Flint.

"It's the scientific term for, what you lowly trainers, call 'shinnies.' Frankly, it's degrading." She swung her arms up and outward to her sides. "'Rutilus Electus Res.' 'Shining Chosen One.' They contain a gene that we, Team Galactic, tend to make full use of…" She dropped her arms, then lifted one and pointed at Genbu. "Like so."

"Wartortle!" Hazru brain hadn't even acknowledged that his Pokémon let out a cry before he saw what happened. Genbu had been kicked into a box right behind him, shattering it and damaging the box immediately behind it. He and Tangi slowly turned their gazes to where Genbu was thought to be. Tangi then turned back toward Mars, just as slowly. She had crossed her arms in the midst of what transpired and giggled behind a smug smile.

"The RER Gene is really quite astounding, is it not? I believe you already had a taste of what it's capable of." She pointed at Tangi again. "Your arm, perhaps, is the proof?" He cringed at the thought of her being right. Flint took notice of his trainer's behavior.

"Tangi." His eyes jerked at Flint's voice; Mars' being the only one he had focused on. Flint cocked his head backwards, still in a battle stance, but a worried look on his face.

'_What's wrong with me?_' Tangi turned his attention to staring at his hands; which were shaking. '_I… Don't think… I've ever been this afraid…_' He kept staring at his hands. He ignored the fact he was in a battle. He ignored the fact that his companions had injured Pokémon to tend for. He even began to ignore Flint. The only thing he kept his focus on was his hands shaking… Mars began laughing loudly.

"That's the best expression I've ever seen," she shouted at the end of her laughter. "Truly, the depiction of fear!" She laughed again until Flint shot her a glare.

"Shut the Hell up." Mars stopped… She lowered her head and returned her own glare at the Charmeleon. Flint's back arched as he held his arms forward slightly; his teeth bared at her. Tangi looked over at him. "Another word to Tangi…"

"And what?" She shot him another smug look. He snarled at her.

"Another word… And…" -POW!- Flint buckled from the pressure of being kicked in the gut. Although, to everyone's surprise, it wasn't Purugly protecting its trainer from threats. It was Tangi. Flint dropped to a knee and grabbed his gut. He turned and was about to shout at Tangi for doing what he did, but Tangi kneeled down to his level.

"Don't," he said. He looked Flint dead in the eyes before finishing. "Don't give her the satisfaction that she's getting to you." Flint looked at Tangi dumbfounded for a moment before chuckling and pushing himself back on his feet. Tangi smiled for a moment; it quickly being lost when he turned back to Mars. "Thanks."

"Huh?"

"For making me realize what I'm really afraid of." She waited for him to give more information; Tangi being happy to oblige. He swung his arms outwards before saying, "I'm not afraid of Flint; he'll always be a food snarffing, overweight idiot," Flint urked after that; interrupting Tangi's speech. "And," he continued. "And he might be thought of as dangerous by plenty of people… But, it isn't what he could do that I'm afraid of." He dropped his arms and shot Mars an emotionless smile. "It's what he could do if someone wasn't there to watch him that scares me. Not anything you said." Hazru grunted in agreement. Tank and Reb smiled at the pair. Tangi took a deep breath before turning back to Flint. "Sorry about that; had to get it off my chest." Flint snorted.

"You're lucky I don't join up with her after that crack at my weight. Nurse Joy said it was only five pounds!" Tangi cracked him a smile.

"Yes, but that was during my last day of hospitalization. How much have you eaten since then?" They proceeded to argue at each other; completely ignoring Mars.

"… Shadow Claw." Tangi and Flint were snapped back to reality as the Purugly returned from nothingness and slashed at the pair. They both dodged; mainly due to Flint pushing Tangi away. Mars thought it to be pure luck. "Faint Attack again." It leapt backwards and, once again, vanished. "Let's make a trade Tangi." He looked up at her since he had fallen backwards to avoid the attack. "You tell me just what Flint's little gift is from the RER Gene, and I'll share what my Purugly's is."

"Gift?" Mars giggled.

"Don't try to hide it; you've had to have seen it by now." He pushed himself up and looked at her confused.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about." Her expression changed to the more furious one from before.

"Is that a fact?" She snapped her fingers and Purugly again came back into view; lunging at Flint. He dodged again, perking Mars' curiosity. "Fury Attack." It turned back around and started swiping its claws at him; Flint dodging each one with less effort after each attack. She pressed the side of her glasses. "Again." Again, it swung; and, like before, Flint seemed to dodge each attack with less and less effort.

"Metal Claw!" One last swipe from the cat and Flint took his turn; leading to a miss. "Keep at it!" Purugly kept leaping backwards away from it. Just as Mars was about to shout a new order though, the fourth swing landed. She let out a grunt of disappointment.

"Faint Attack!" The cat left everyone's sight once again.

"So how about you tell me Mars," Tangi shouted over to her. "What's Purugly's 'RER gift?'" She stared for a moment and began laughing.

"Do you honestly think I'd tell you tha-"

"Speed." She dropped her head and looked over at Hazru; who had dug out Genbu. He returned him and stood up. "I fought one of those before. They're natively fast… But this one was near unnoticeable." He placed his hand behind his belt and replaced Genbu's Pokéball. After Mars remained silent, Hazru took his turn to chuckle. "The extra speed is quite noticeable, however. Just from seeing its swings during the Fury Attack made me think of this; that it doesn't vanish. During a Faint Attack, they always reappear to land the attack. Purugly's moving at such a high speed, it's nigh impossible to see. However, I think Flint's noticed this the whole time. Exactly why hasn't Purugly attacked yet?" Everyone turned to Flint; his eyes and head darting around him. Reb and Tank returned their Pokémon and stood up.

"He can see Purugly," Reb asked. Hazru nodded.

"At least, I think so… Faint Attack is a never miss attack because the Pokémon becomes so fast, it's able to get to its target's blind spot and land the hit. We all saw it with your Bulbasaur and my Genbu." Tangi looked over at Flint; who either didn't hear or couldn't care about the explanation. Mars just smiled. "But it hasn't popped up yet for Flint… Tangi. Your thoughts?" Tangi turned back to the gang.

"I don't know… Although…" He thought back onto past battles since Flint evolved. "He's been exceptionally good at dodging. And his attacks almost always land their mark…" Then it hit Tangi; that was Flint's "gift." A growl snapped him from his thoughts. He managed to catch sight of Flint, arm extended out, and the Purugly caught in his paws. He shot it an evil grin.

"Gotcha." He tossed it into the wall it sent Bruce into and launched a Flamethrower attack. When the flames settled down, the cat dropped to its feet. It seemed badly burned for it had not tried to run away. Mars just stared at them. Until…

*Beep* She pressed onto her ear again. She nodded and released her ear again. "Well, I'm done here." She returned her Pokémon. Everyone turned to Mars. "You got what you wanted; I'm leaving now." She took a step forward but Flint stepped in her way; snarling at her.

"We changed our minds, actually." Mars looked from the Charmeleon to the teens. Tangi stepped forward. "We want you to stay… At least until Officer Jenny from Floaroma Town can get here and arrest you all."

"… Oh, do you think your simple threats would really work?" The door behind her opened; a grunt appearing with a man in a lab coat. The man was bound by ropes. Mars then materialized a device from her pocket. "One more threat at me, and I'll just hit this button," she said as she nodded at the device. "And the energy in the factory will reverse; causing the electricity to build up that.. Well, let's just say that it won't be pleasant." She shot them all a smile. "So you have two choices; let us go and you can have that man along with the factory still being functional… On the other had, if you try to stop us, I'll hit this. The factory becomes a danger zone and, you being the 'hero' types, go off to stop it while I escape." Tangi and them looked between each other. "Either way, I get away. It just depends if you want a possible explosion on your hands or not…"

"… Flint. Let her go." He shot Tangi a look. His trainer nodded at him to agree. He did so, but not before shooting Mars one final snarl. She and the conscious grunt walked by to the exit of the room.

"You know, with everything said and done…" She turned around on the spot after the grunt pasted her. "I never really did like this place." She lifted her thumb over the switch; everyone yelled "No" at her. Just as she was about to press it, something lunged at her face. "Eek!!!! GET IT OFF!!!" She dropped the device and smacked the Spinarak off her face. Mars looked at the trainers before bolting out of sight.

"She doesn't have the switch now! Come on!" Hazru gave chase to her.

"Hazru, wait!" Tank followed close. Tangi started to go after them, but the muffling sounds of the man's voice stopped him. He turned to Reb who also was busy caring for the Spinarak.

"Damn it…" Tangi walked over to the hostage and untied him…

A few hours passed on. Officer Jenny had been called in along with some police force members. The lackeys that that had been left behind were taken into custody. Commander Mars wasn't found yet, nor was Tank and Hazru. The hostage was actually the factory owner; who was more than happen to be reunited with his daughter. Tangi, Flint and Rebecca stared at the scene before them. "You know," Reb said. "We've been cleared from questioning… We could go now." She looked over at the two as they continued staring off; both wearing the same expression.

"I know," they said at the same time. Reb waited to see if they'd notice this, but nothing. She leaned up against her tree again and continued watching…

A few more minutes and Tangi bent over to pick up his bag while Flint stretched in place. "Let's go." Again, they had said it at the same time…

"Hold it." They both turned to Rebecca. She walked up and looked back and forth between the two?

"What?" Again, in union-sense…

"Stop that! That's creepy!" They turned to each other than back to her before, once again, speaking at once.

"What is?"

"That!"

"That what?" She sighed and smacked both of them.

"Ow… What the Hell did I do that time Reb?!" Tangi grabbed at his face.

"I can understand Tangi getting hit for no reason, but why me?!" Flint rubbed his face also. Tangi glared at him while Reb stared at the pair

"She probably smacked you to motivate you to lose some weight!" Flint urked then smacked Tangi across the other side of his face.

"Well she probably smacked you for always insulting me!" The two began yelling at each other again… Reb sighed.

"I give up…" She readjusted her bag and walked away from the two. They took notice, looked at each other, than bolted on after her.

"Wait, Reb! What did we do?!" She turned around, tossed a Pokéball, and both of them had their mouths covered from a String Shot.

"Much better!" She turned back around with her Spinarak crawling up to her shoulder, leaving the two to try to pry the thread off their faces. "Oh, there's no complaints with Anansi joining us, is there?" All she received were muffled sounds from behind the webbing. "I didn't hear a no~!" She bolted up the path laughing; Flint and Tangi chasing after her for help with the webbing. They all still had to make it to Eterna Forest before nightfall…

"Sir, we managed to succeed with our operation at the Valley Windworks… But ran into a small complication." Mars walked into a dark lightened room and placed the glasses she wore during the second half of her match with our heroes on a desk. "Details were recorded…"

"Very well. You're dismissed." She hesitated before nodding, then made for the doorway. A man grabbed the glasses and turned them around in his hands. "This had better be good…"

Footnotes: "Rutilus Electus Res" translates to "Shining, Chosen Being" in Latin. Or roughly (RER Gene being a fitting named I'd think!). Also, lawl… Like everyone that has played Diamond/Pearl/Platinum wouldn't know who that person at the end was.

Chapter Preview - After camping out in a nice rest house outside the Eterna Forest (partly due to Reb's fear of crossing the forest at night), the two head out at the break of dawn. Inside they regroup with Tank who, oddly enough, is found with a rather lavishing, "green" girl.

~What Flint Really Wanted to do to Tangi~

**Tangi**: I'm not afraid of Flint; he'll always be a food snarffing, overweight idiot-

**Flint**: You want overweight!? *Lungs at Tangi and bites down on his face; him screaming in pain.* OMNOMNOM!

**Mars**: …

**Rebecca**: *covers mouth and runs off to throw up*

**Tank**: O.O

**Hazru**: … Meh, I said he was a freak, didn't I?

**Flint**: *lungs at Hazru's now; Hazru screaming at the knowing what's to come.* OMNOMNOMNOM!

**Me**: Uh… We can, like, fix them… Right? *some random doctor nods* Then keep rolling for the blooper reels!


End file.
